A Sword in Agate
by Alveric
Summary: Returning with an ancient prize and words of warning, Sam and Cam reunite with the rest of SG-1 to find that all roads lead to the same destination. They now tread the same path as the builder and the magician. Sequel to 'Voices from a Lost Time' Cam/Sam
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 1**

Falcons Stadium, Air Force Academy, October 1989

First class Cadet/Major Cameron Mitchell poked his head out from underneath the armatures he was assembling for Sam's multi-mirror arrays. He was treated to the view of Sam bending over by her computer equipment in the small tent set up against the fence above the stands at one of the corners of the stadium. He sighed with a rueful smile on his face and waited for her to stand up straight before speaking, she made the cadet uniform look good.

"Sam, I'm all set up here." He smiled when she turned and beamed at him. That smile was going to kill him some day he was sure of it. He was also sure it would be worth it. It was the same smile she wore when he answered the door to his dorm two weeks before to see her holding up her laser safety officer's license and asking for his help to set up her lasers for a half-time show at the first Commander-in-Chief's Trophy game against Navy. If asked, he would admit that he hadn't actually known what he'd agreed to until later. He'd just said yes to the smile. He squirmed his way out from underneath the forest of metal he'd had precision tooled by the guys in the metalworking shop and then assembled himself in preparation for the arrival of the lasers the following day. There was also a large black mesh material being set up behind them which would be raised before the next day's game to use as a projection screen. "Are you ready to run a control test?" She nodded eagerly and waited for him to come stand beside her and stare at the computer screen as if he knew what any of it meant. She sniggered and he glowered at her. "What?"

"There's nothing to see there yet, it will all run after I execute the program on the command line." She laughed as he stood up straight, crossed his arms and looked at her with a menacing glare. Her eyes glittered with mirth and he shook his head and knocked the side of hers lightly. She smiled and gave her head a little shake which sent her short blond locks whipping against her cheek. He held his breath for a moment before turning to look at the armatures with their mirrors and lenses connected to a whole slew of galvanometer scanners. "Do you want to see it going?" He nodded and she tapped away at her keyboard and hit enter which caused the reflectors above the armatures he assembled to spin and turn and wave. It was fascinating to watch and it wasn't actually doing anything. "You've done a really great job with the articulators, Cameron, they're very smooth." He smiled as he glanced her way.

"I'll always do my best work for you, Sam, have no doubt." he murmured, not daring to meet her eye. Instead he glanced down at his watch. "I do have to get to practice though, or Coach DeBerry might just bench me for the game." He chuckled at her look of horror as she glanced at her own watch, she'd obviously lost track of time again.

"Holy Hannah, Cam, you have to run!" She grabbed his arm and turned him towards the tunnel and began pushing him from behind as he chuckled. "You have to play in the game or..." He stopped and turned to face her as she trailed off, she tried to keep pushing him onwards with a very serious look on her face, but he lifted an eyebrow and stood his ground.

"Or?" He smiled knowingly and she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes.

"Or some of the sequences I've put together can't be used." she admitted and pushed against his chest, he started walking backwards slowly. He nodded then looked at her again with the same lifted eyebrow. There was always more. "Some of them... might... mention you..." He grinned as she dropped her forehead against his chest for a moment before shoving him hard. "It's the Navy game tomorrow, you have to play and win! Go!" He laughed and turned towards the tunnel.

"Yes, ma'am, Cadet/Staff Sergeant Carter." He gave her a little salute and she glared at him in return. There wasn't really any chance the coach wouldn't start him and he'd cleared the work he was doing, and the slight possibility he might be late for practice, earlier that morning. He liked it when Sam got all protective of him that way though.

The next afternoon he was rubbing his hand across the large number ten in blue on the front of his white jersey. He winced slightly having taken a late hit following a hand off to his running back on the previous play. He patted his center on the back to stop him from going into his set position and observed the Navy players forming up in their appropriately navy jerseys and gold helmets across the line of scrimmage. He narrowed his eyes and glanced at the scoreboard, 21-7 in the fourth, three minutes left, the game was fairly safe and the coach's running plays had worked all day long, but it wouldn't this time, he glanced at the coach on the sideline and shook his head slightly. He called an audible and watched a wide receiver move aside while a decoy tight end shifted out a little wider, it opened a slot for a lineman to charge at him, but he saw something and he had to take advantage. He gave his center a push so he set up over the ball. He bent down to get ready for the snap and called several more random phrases which didn't change his chosen play.

He called the snap and drifted back, watching his strong side tackle take out the first linebacker who slipped through the gap left by the tight end. His eyes flicked over to his tight end and he grinned as he scrambled to the right, his gut feeling was right and he'd drawn another shadow which meant that... he found a linebacker in his face and had to spin around to get out of the sack, sidestepping and slipping through his grasp, setting himself to throw while a second linebacker threw himself at his chest, slamming a shoulder into his sternum and ploughing him into the grass. He got his head up, shoving at the man on top of him and watched his pass sailing into the darkening sky of early dusk and right into the path of a wide open receiver on the left who sped away into the end zone after making a catch over his shoulder. The Falcons were a team known for their rushing, but that didn't mean Cam didn't have a cannon for an arm. He was just getting to his feet when he found Bryce Ferguson slamming his helmet against his and whooping in joy. He grabbed Cam's face guard and shook it slightly as the rest of the line clapped him on the shoulder and the backs ran up to the receiver and congratulated him.

"What the Hell, Mitchell! How'd you know to call that?" Bryce was grinning and dragging him back to the bench while the kicking team came on for the point-after attempt. He looked towards the corner where Sam's mesh screen was set up and grinned stupidly when he saw her green laser was writing out 'GO CAM GO' on three lines over the dark material. He'd hated half-time. He was stuck in the locker room while Sam was running her show. He wanted to see it so badly he couldn't sit still while Coach gave his talk. Now he could see her waving to him from where she was keeping an eye on the equipment. Bryce slapped his helmet right on the lightning bolt when he caught him looking at Sam and her laser display. "You gonna do the decent thing and ask her out already, ya big idiot?" Cam glared at him until the receiver, Johnson, finally caught up with them and clapped Cam on the shoulders for the pass. Cam grinned in return and slapped the kid's helmet. "Geez, Cam, anyone who knows you can tell just by looking at you that you like her. Don't be an ass." Bryce didn't get it, Sam was going places, she was the future of the Air Force. Cam's feelings didn't enter into any of that. Ferguson shook his head and gave him a shove with a rueful chuckle. "Moron."

After adding another touchdown the game ended with a healthy 35-7 score and the cadets in the stands were all cheering as Sam's laser was shifting between 'AIR FORCE', 'SOAR FALCONS', 'SINK NAVY' and 'GO CAM GO'. He rushed through his shower and the check up with the physio and got outside the locker room only to have to dodge through a small crowd of cadets who were harder to get around than the Navy linemen. He persevered however, and managed to climb up and out onto the terraces where he found Sam huddling in her jacket. She leapt up with a huge grin on her face and ran over to hug him.

"You were great! The whole team was great!" she cried in delight and he laughed. She pulled back and her eyes glittered as several female cadets approached and crowded around Cam, squealing. After he smiled and managed to send them all off happily waving in his direction he found Sam smirking at him with her arms crossed across her chest. He smiled apologetically and walked back to her side. "Did you like my show?"

"I loved what I saw, it looked great, but I was in the locker room at half-time," he paused at her sidelong glance, "but you knew that... Sam?" She giggled and pulled him along by the elbow over to where they'd arranged the lasers and mirror arrays. He found a pair of chairs set up behind the laser assembly, with a large blanket laying atop one of them. She pushed him towards one of the chairs and handed him the blanket which he began to spread out as she trotted over to the computer and started her half-time show sequence on a delayed timer. She dashed back to the chairs, sat down and giggled when Cam tossed half the blanket over her. The laser started up and ran through a very intricate animation of a falcon flying through the sky and coming in to land on the deck of an aircraft carrier. Cam watched in fascination as the falcon then spread its wings out wide and took off to fly over the ship which sailed away and the words 'Navy at Air Force' grew larger on the mesh. The falcon came back and found the ship again and started dropping footballs onto the flight deck and Cam started laughing. "This is great, Sam." She grinned at him as they continued to watch the show.

"Do you know why I got my laser safety officer's license?" Sam asked a little later and he turned to look at her and shook his head. "It's so I could run LIDAR tests on the Moon." She grinned at his look of confusion. "I'm gonna bounce a laser off a moon buggy!" she cried pointing up at the Moon hanging in the early evening sky directly to the south, while the words 'SOAR FALCONS' flashed on and off in green over the black mesh.

* * *

Selenis, Luna, August 2010

Sam noticed Vala couldn't really tear herself away from the sight of Cam and Teal'c down in the hangar deck, tossing a football to each other across the gap between the completed Alteran ship and the incomplete one across from it. The former smuggler was half-turned away, but still looking through the transparent matrix. She would take a step which would lead her away to find Daniel before pausing and turning around again to watch the Jaffa send a spiralling pass through the airless distance. Sam almost didn't hear the small beep from the Command balcony and she was certainly thankful that Selenis wasn't as transfixed as they were.

"~Dr. Carter, you will want to see this.~" A small display appeared in the matrix in front of Sam and she scanned it quickly. Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she quickly pressed the comm stud in her ear.

"Cam! Get your ass up here, right now! There's a match, it's time!" She pressed her hand against the wall in front of her and watched as Cam balked in his throwing motion and looked up towards the 'gate room blister. She saw his hand going up to his ear.

"Sam? What are you talking about? Time for what?" he asked then looked in Teal'c's direction.

"The 'Thank You Note'." she declared and watched him immediately race along the tunnel of air from his forcefield to the transporter at the base of the façade under the 'gateroom. Teal'c was also running and both were using the loping bounds especially useful in the lower gravity of the hangar deck.

"Are you _sure_, Sam?" Cam asked breathlessly while he bounded down below. "'Cause you said it could be years." She spun on her heels and raced up the steps with the display following her up along the matrix, she signalled for Selenis to move it to one of the consoles and the AI obliged. Vala came running up behind her unsure of what was going on. Sam got the telemetry to display everything and she laughed nervously.

"I said _weeks or months or years_, honey. And this is almost ridiculously good." She scanned the data again and Vala wiggled her fingers through the hologram of the star.

"What's ridiculously good, Samantha?" she asked and Sam paused, looking down for a moment before turning to her with a sad smile on her face.

"You remember when Cam pulled me out of that airlock on the derelict several years ago?" she asked and Vala nodded. "It's time to send a thank you note." Vala still looked slightly confused. Sam pressed her comm stud. "Cam according to these readings we have less than four minutes to do this."

"Captain Wells, I need Package 21 Omega brought to the 'gate room immediately." Cam called over the base-wide comm while on the run. "Dr. Lazlo, bring Package 21 Alpha, please." A few minutes later Sam was helping Dr. Lazlo set up the mobile A-frame to the side of the Stargate as Captain Wells and a pair of Marines entered with a large black metal case which they laid down next to the working scientists. Daniel had arrived a minute or so before with an incredulous look, asking if it was really time for Package 21 Omega, he stood by Vala up in Command and explained to her what was going on. Cam and Teal'c came running in from treblin side and Cam took the long way around them all and up to the Command balcony. Staying well away from the case. When Sam was happy that the device attached to the A-frame was properly calibrated she came up to Command to stand by Cam as he was showing a plainly nonplussed Daniel the football in his hands and she looked over her equations once more. Cam turned to her with a worried frown. "Are you sure, Sam?" She glanced up at him and nodded.

"I checked my calculations on the Asgard Core and again with Selenis' help. They're good. Both pulses will work." she declared.

"~I can find no fault with Dr. Carter's hypothesis, assumptions or calculations, Colonel Mitchell.~" intoned Selenis calmly. Cam looked up a moment and crossed his arms with a slight frown.

"T-man, is the package ready?" he asked the Jaffa who stood down in the 'gate room. Teal'c moved to the black case and checked various things on the display on its lid before looking up and nodding, he signalled Captain Wells who nodded also and gathered up his Marines with him and left the area. Dr. Lazlo came bustling up the stairs to stand at the railing not far from them. The countdown on Selenis' console was finally turning a distinct shade of red, then zeroed out at which point the Stargate dialled and formed a connection. "~Go for it, Selenis.~" Cam ordered and the A-frame manoeuvred itself into position and forcefields erected themselves around it and the 'gate. A dull thrum sounded and a visible distortion was emitted from the Asgard device attached to the A-frame and projected into the open wormhole. The forcefields came down and Cam nodded to the waiting Jaffa who lifted the metal case and strode over to where the A-frame had been only moments before it had moved off to the other side of the Stargate. "Give it a good heave, T-man, get it out of range." Teal'c pulled his arm back and rocked the case through the air and down, shoving it along the ground in front of the Stargate and into the event horizon. They turned to the console which was counting up now, and stopped, flashing a number in Alteran.

"3.4 seconds." Sam breathed with a huge grin. "It worked." She motioned for Selenis to proceed. The A-frame returned to its position in front of the 'gate and the forcefields winked back on once Teal'c was clear. Another visible distortion in the air emanated from the device and the wormhole disengaged moments later. Sam slipped her arms around Cam's waist and he nestled his lips against her neck.

* * *

PX7-455, January 2006 (alternate reality)

The wormhole disengaged after a loud whomp sounded from the event horizon and a faint vibration propagated through the air for a few meters past the Stargate. All was quiet for several minutes until the inner ring began spinning once more, the chevrons lighting up in turn until finally the kawoosh emerged from the event horizon, it's lower edge just missing the top of something which was resting along the stairs up to the 'gate platform. Another loud whomp with its concomitant visual distortion emanated from the Stargate several long moments ahead of the resigned faces of four black clad travellers. Daniel and Teal'c stepped out of the wormhole first, their frowns of disappointment and regret changing almost instantly to looks of surprise and confusion at the sight which greeted them on the steps up to the platform. Sam walked through next, turning to find her teammates staring down at something, she walked over and rubbed a hand across her raised brow, the ring on her finger catching a stray ray of morning light.

"What is that?" she asked only to get confused head shakes in return. Moments later Cam stepped through and frowned in consternation at his team standing by the steps as the wormhole disengaged behind him. Sam turned to look his way. "Cam, come look at this." He tilted his head and walked over, laying his hand on Sam's lower back and rubbing it gently. When he saw what they were looking at he turned to her and met her gaze. "I don't know, sweetie, it wasn't here when we left." She bit her lip and he was reminded of just why he loved her so much. Even her confusion was adorable. He stepped forward towards the large metal case and stepped back when it beeped and a green laser field passed up his torso and face.

"What the Hell was that?" he cried, stumbling backwards, he would have fallen on his backside if it weren't for Teal'c stepping forward to put a hand on his shoulder. The box beeped again insistently and he stepped forward once more to see a single line display on its lid flashing a message above a small numeric keypad which used Arabic numerals. The message it was flashing was telling. 'CAM MITCHELL' pulsed on and off over and over until he knelt by the box.

"Cam..." Sam came to stand next to him and squatted beside him, he looked at her with a slight frown, but just shrugged. She closed her eyes and nodded. They turned to the display because it was now flashing another message. 'YOUR BDAY?' They both blinked and Cam typed in 05181970. The case beeped and another message appeared. 'SAMS BDAY?' He glanced at her and typed in 12291968. There were several clunks and clicks and a final whirr as the display zeroed out and went blank. The latches on the lid released and it popped open slightly. Cam closed his eyes and felt Sam's hand reach for his and squeeze his wedding ring until he looked over to her. He nodded and lifted the lid with his other hand. What he saw made him laugh hysterically and stand up, turn around and cover his face with his hands. Sam stood up with him and turned him around to face her and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. Daniel and Teal'c came around them and looked into the open case, seeing three ZPMs resting length-wise in form fitting grey sponge. The one in the middle, which was turned upside down in relation to the other two, had a small yellow post-it note stuck to its base. Written on it was, 'I cut the green one. THANK YOU!' with the last two words on their own line and heavily underlined multiple times. Cam came up for air from his kiss with Sam and looked down into the case once more as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, relief pouring from her in tangible waves. He grinned and held her tight.

"That right there is totally worth losing my pants for."

* * *

Urdijina, M3R-921, September 2010

Sam stared at Cam in disbelief. She blinked as memories of that day two years previously washed over her mind and she staggered slightly. She felt Cam's arms around her and she clutched at the robes over his chest, pressing her face into the crook of his neck as he tightened his embrace . The day they had recovered the Serraepta Momenta Eteri from the bowels of the Ancient control pedestal under Herian's pyramid. The day when Cam spent relativistic months trapped inside a time dilation barrier as the prisoner of the Goa'uld, who lived to hunt for sport. A day she'd nearly lost him. They lived such dangerous lives, she realised now that she couldn't stand to be apart from him under such circumstances. Whatever he faced he had to do it with her at his side, she would not accept anything else. She laughed softly against his neck as he stroked her back in lazy circles. Ilemus was right. They were partners in every way now.

"Honey, are you alright?" he asked gently. She nodded without looking up, she just closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of him, mixed in with the scent of the hot springs. She didn't realise until that moment she'd already made that decision months ago, that they would share not only their lives with each other, but their dangers and their fates. She was ready for it. Completely ready for it.

"Cam, you need to meet my brother," she paused for a moment in recollection, "again." He chuckled and she giggled into his neck. "I haven't actually told him I'm engaged yet. I don't know why. Our relationship has improved a lot since we were kids, since he and my father began speaking again over eleven years ago, but we're still distant. My job doesn't help." She smiled ruefully.

"You want him to give you away?" he asked gently into her damp locks and she nodded. "Then we'll go visit him when we get back, I'll ask his permission if you want me to." She could tell by his tone he was smiling and she giggled, shaking her head.

"You don't need to do that, I'm marrying you no matter what, he'll just have to listen to his big sister for once." She giggled then laughed when Cam's own laughter began. She pulled away from his chest gently to look into his eyes. "I love you, Cameron. Your fate and mine are the same now, understand?" She smiled when he flushed in his usual way at her declaration of love, and beamed when he nodded his acknowledgement at the rest of it.

"I love you, Sam. Believe me, I _understand_." He kissed her deeply, running a hand through her hair and pressing her to him. She melted into his arms, slipping hers over his shoulder and wrapping them around his neck, she let him in and tasted him, the flavours of the waters of the cavern, and his flavour, heady and strong. She lost herself in the kiss, breathlessly pulling away only when she began getting too light-headed to stand. She looked into his eyes, searching for the look she remembered from her memories of the alternate timeline, that look Cameron had always given her when she asked him if he was sure they would be together even after the paradox. Her lips broke into a broad smile and her eyes welled up with tears as soon as she saw his eyes flash in understanding, when she saw the look of certainty in his blue gaze that gave her the strength to face anything, to face death knowing he'd be there with her on the other side. He raised his hands to her cheeks and rubbed her tears away, a small smile playing across his lips, she clutched at his hands and kissed his fingers. "Time means nothing to me now. Space can't keep us apart anymore. Infinity and Eternity belong to us, Sam." At his words her knees nearly buckled, she fell into him and he was forced to pull his hands away and wrap her in his arms again, holding her tightly.

In silent agreement they began making their way back towards the village. She picked up Selenis' part of the Clava Thessara Infinitas from where she'd dropped it after Ilemus ascended right in front of her and slipped it back inside the strip of light she could generate with the metal band. Holding his hand she walked alongside him over the glowing path through the milky water. She stopped when she noticed he was still holding his metallic band in his hand. He halted and looked back at her and she reached over and took the band from him, unclasping it and holding it up. He smiled and let her slip it over his left wrist.

"Partners in every way." he breathed and she smiled broadly, closing it and holding onto his hand as he felt the same jolt as she had. "All I can say is it better not be messing with me when it tells me it can display the time, I like my watch." She laughed as he began leading her away through the cavern once more towards the flickering torchlight they saw as they rounded the final corner into the main cavern. They climbed out of the lake and kissed gently before separating to complete their parts of the rituals as laid down by the Aleri.

After dressing she picked up her bracelet and slipped it next to the metal clasp, surprised to see it pulse softly as it touched the silver of the bracelet, and smiled when she was informed it was because it sensed Cameron's presence on it. She let her fingers run over the bracelet and finished dressing. As she walked out to the entrance she saw Cam holding his watch up to the clasp and grinning like a madman. She raised an eyebrow then walked over and let him show her the blue numerals pulsing against the black backdrop of the clasp, keeping time with that displayed on his watch. She shook her head and smiled, taking his hand in hers and leading him out of the cavern. When they stepped out under the early evening sky lit by the torches by which the Aleri kept their vigil, they were surprised when one of them instantly hitched up his robes and ran off towards the village as fast as his legs could carry him. Cam watched the young man running then turned to Jinaya and Urisca's daughter. "Aleri, what is happening?" The three remaining Aleri bowed deeply, far more deeply than before.

"You have returned with the Sigil." the young woman replied in amazement as she straightened up, accepting Cam and Sam's shallow bow as form dictated. "Both of you have returned with Sigils." Sam looked at her left wrist, lifting it up. The young woman's eyes glittered as she looked on it, Sam motioned her over and allowed her to hold her wrist to examine it. "I believed, we trained for our duties as required by tradition, but to see it happen, to see the Sigil with my own eyes." She looked up into Sam's eyes and they were welling up. "You spoke with Aleminu?"

"With Ilemus? Yes. He has ascended now, turned into a being composed of energy." Sam replied and the young woman nodded, raising a hand to her lips. She straightened and closed her eyes, gathered up her composure once more before turning to her cohorts. "Aleri, we perform our duties." They all bowed to Sam and Cam once more and proceeded into the Caverns. Cam stood next to her and touched her elbow, pulling her along to walk with him back to the village. She slipped her hand into his as they followed the torchlit path in silence. They needed no words, just the contact of each other's fingers. When they got to the outskirts of the village they weren't surprised to find Urisca and the rest of the Council waiting. There was no commotion, no gathering of the entire populace, that wasn't the Urdijine way. Just the Council. They halted in front of them and returned a shallow bow to the deep bow given to them by the Council members.

"You have returned with the Sigil, so we now perform our final task as Caretakers." He stepped aside and Jinaiya walked forward with a broad smile and proud eyes, holding a small box in her hands, made of a smooth material of indeterminate origin. She motioned Sam forward and asked her to raise the Sigil, then touched the box to it, small filaments moved from the clasp on her wrist and every Council member watched in open fascination as the top of the box slid open to reveal six slivers of opalescent crystal lying on a cushioned surface. The filaments reached out and lifted the slivers, laying them on the surface of the clasp, moving them over the metal as if it were a liquid, until each sliver lay across the circumference of the band and slowly sunk into it. The box crumbled to dust in Jinaiya's hands and Sam was surprised to find tears in the woman's eyes as Urisca came and stood by her with a concerned look. She took a leaf out of Cam's book and laid her hand on the woman's shoulder, only mildly surprised when she found the woman embracing her.

"I knew it would be you, Dr. Carter. I knew somehow it would be you." Jinaiya pulled away and rejoined her husband by the Council members who were all gazing on her fondly. They bowed deeply once more. Cam touched her elbow and Sam bowed along with him.

"Our duties as Caretakers of the Archive of Aleminu are complete. We will forever be Guardians of the Caverns." Urisca beamed, seemingly very pleased. Sam realised at last why that was so, it dawned on her that all of the Councillors had at one time been Aleri. Still, what was in Ilemus' Archive? She glanced at the band around her wrist, surprised to find it was now displaying the time just like Cam's was. "Come, Dr. Carter, Colonel Mitchell. We complete our accord, then we feast." Sam laughed as she saw Cam grin unashamedly.

"Will there be dancing?" he asked eagerly with a sly look at Jinaiya and a sidelong glance at Sam. The People's Herta laughed.

"Of course, Colonel Mitchell." Jinaiya declared. "There will be dancing throughout the night!" Sam grinned as Cam rubbed his hands together and reached for hers eagerly. He didn't even have to say the words, the look in his eye was enough for her to know what they were.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 2**

McLean, Virginia, May 29th, 1978

Sam ran up the garden with their empty plates and cups in hand, she put them on the table on the deck by the back door and turned her head to see him talking to his parents in an insistent tone, then dashing off with his grandmother's car keys after she handed them to him with an indulgent smile. She turned to find her father over by the grill talking with Colonel Hammond, who was wearing a rather garish floral print apron. His wife's doing no doubt. He was flipping some chicken cuts on the grill while taking a swig of beer from a bottle and joking with her father as she walked over.

"Hello, Samantha, would you like some chicken? They're almost done." He smiled at her as he held up one of the chicken legs with his tongs. She smiled back and shook her head as he put the meat back on the grill. Her father cupped the back of her neck and leaned down to kiss the top of her head.

"How are things going with the Mitchell kid, Sammie?" He smiled at her and she turned her head to see the boy's parents talking to Mrs. Davis, he must already be digging through his grandmother's car.

"Daddy, can I get your car keys, please?" She looked around to see if her mother was nearby before whispering conspiratorially, "He has Jeff Long and Doug Davis dolls in his stuff, if I get my Major Matt Mason and Sgt. Storm dolls we have all the 'Men in Space' to play with." Her father grinned at George Hammond as he straightened up from listening to her whispers.

"You brought them with you? You better not let your mother see you." He reached into his pocket to root out his keys as George chuckled from beside him.

"I won't, Dad, we'll just say they're his if she sees us." She held her hand out and he laid his keys in her eager palm. "Thanks, Daddy!" She turned and was about to dash off, but he put his hand on her shoulder and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Don't get your skirt dirty or your Mom won't care whose action figures they are." He grinned at her as she rolled her eyes at him in return and ran around the house to their car parked out front. She saw him waiting by her Dad's car as they'd agreed and she quickly unlocked the trunk to get at her bag and opened it to rummage through it, pulling out the two figures she'd brought with her and loading them into his arms. She closed everything up and took his grandmother's keys from his fingers while he juggled the dolls, trying not to drop them.

"I left my Matt Mason in the car since you said you had him." he explained and she nodded as they walked back around the house. "I'll see you at the creek." She nodded again and dashed off to her father to hand him his keys, he patted her head and stroked her cheek gently as she smiled. She then went to Grandma Mitchell and returned her keys to her, explaining that she had her grandson carrying everything as she hooked her thumb over her shoulder towards the bottom of the garden. She laughed pleasantly and stroked Sam's cheek just as her Dad had, nodding and smiling before sending her scurrying off. His grandmother was really nice.

She scampered across the grass towards the bottom of the garden, happy to have found someone who could make these usually dull gatherings the least bit bearable. The only other kid her age with parents in her Dad's circle of friends was Paul Davis and although he was a nice kid he was like an old man already. No fun at all. Mark hated doing anything at all energetic and practically never left Mom's side, she sighed at the thought of it. She had been so glad all those years ago when her Dad had told her that the baby her mother had been expecting was a boy. She thought she'd finally get someone to play with. She shook her head with a rueful smile. Mark didn't like to play.

Sam found if she wasn't playing then her head just filled up with all sorts of things whenever she looked at anything, sprinklers spraying water would have her thinking of multi-variable probability distribution fields, the hummingbirds in their garden would set her to thinking of variable pitch rotor blades, even a little earlier when she'd been waiting for him to return with hot dogs, the water flowing through the creek had her thinking of standing wave coherent interference patterns. Playing let her mind relax and he helped her play. She came around the hedge and found him setting up the figures on the chairs he'd brought back before they'd had hamburgers. He looked up when she came around and smiled. He had a nice smile. He looked down at the action figures and frowned slightly.

"Why didn't they ever make a girl doll to be one of Major Matt Mason's space buddies, seems dumb to me." He sounded so serious she just had to grin and chuckle as she sat in a chair after picking up the Jeff Long and Doug Davis figures he'd laid on it. She'd never seen these two dolls in their, respectively, blue and yellow suits. They were both civilians who were friends with Matt Mason and joined him in his adventures, She posed Jeff in his blue suit and chocolate coloured skin into a fairly combative pose and stood him on the seat of the chair next to hers.

"That's why I asked my Dad to get me Sgt. Storm." She pointed at the blond haired doll in the red suit. "Don't you think that's a pretty feminine face?" He looked at her in puzzlement as he picked up the figure. "Girly." she elaborated. He made a little 'oh' sound and scrutinised the figure's face. He nodded after a while. "Short hair though, which doesn't help."

"No law against girls with short hair is there?" he asked seriously again, but his eyes were sparkling in that way of his and she laughed.

"No, I guess not, do you think I'd look good with short hair then?" she asked with a teasing smile and flipped her long hair over her shoulder then bunched it up and held it back in a ponytail with her hand. She turned her head from side to side with a slight smile on her lips. He watched her for several seconds and the look in his eyes made her feel warm.

"I dunno, probably, I can't really tell," when he spoke so seriously it made her feel strange sometimes, "you look good with your hair like that too." She felt her cheeks warming up. He turned back to regard the figure in his hand and offered it to her. "Did you make up a girl character then? If you did you should make her a Major too, so she and Matt Mason can share the team." He always said the strangest things, but they made an odd sort of sense when she thought about it. She took the figure and looked at him... her. She chuckled.

"That's a good idea actually, or maybe she could be his boss." She gave him a challenging look, to see how he'd react to _that_ idea, but she should have known better, one thing she knew about him was that his Grandma made sure he had a lot of respect for women. He just nodded happily as he posed Matt Mason next to Jeff Long.

"That works too."

* * *

Jack O'Neill's cabin, Minnesota, September 2008 (alternate timeline)

She stood inside the door to her room as he leant his forearm against the door frame and kissed her again, or a little more truthfully, _she_ kissed _him_ again. She pulled away and thought to herself for the thousandth time that his smile was bad for her continued sanity. He was about to back up a step as her hand pushed him back into the hall, but she grabbed onto his jacket instead and pulled him to her for another insistent kiss. After several seconds she balked again and pulled back. It was almost four in the morning, she needed to get to bed. She pushed him out for sure and he lifted an eyebrow at her, as if asking if she was going to pull him in again, but she narrowed her eyes at him with a studied smirk and closed the door. She heard a muffled 'I love you' whispered from the other side and she pressed her forehead against the wood of the door as she felt her knees go slightly weak. Turning around she leaned back against the closed door and looked up at the ceiling trying to gather her scattered thoughts and feelings. She raised her hands to cover her mouth, she could feel her lips still throbbing from the intensity of their kisses. She bit her lower lip with a smile and half-walked half-stumbled her way to the bed in the room she'd commandeered in the cabin and started rummaging in her bag for a change of clothes.

Cameron Mitchell told her he loved her. Her fingers stilled their movements as her mind entered a fugue state for a split second. She almost couldn't believe it. A part of her, a tiny, petty, hyper-rational part of her, was mad at him for taking twenty years to admit it to her, but it wasn't as if she could talk. She'd had a crush on him since the Academy and had never acted on it either, she'd blown her own chances to tell him. It didn't matter now. It _didn't_. He was hers and she wasn't going to let him get away. He'd made her a promise. She was going to make sure he had the chance to keep it, and until that happened she was going to be his, and then for years after that as well. She pulled out a sweatshirt and some sweatpants, coming to Jack's cabin so late in the year necessitated some warmer night clothes. She stopped again, her smile faltering as she thought of Jack O'Neill. She looked up and out of the window into the darkness of the surrounding forest. She blinked as her eyes began to sting suddenly. He was dead, her Jack was dead, even as the Jack in this timeline was alive and being kind of a jerk.

She turned and faced in the direction of the room Cam and Daniel would be sharing that night. She brought a hand up to her mouth as a thought suddenly entered her mind which brought her up short. Was she running from Jack's death? Was she running towards Cam so she could ignore what Jack dying meant? She thought she'd come to terms with the fact that she and Jack weren't going to be together. That some time between returning to the SGC from Area 51 and before leaving for Atlantis she'd decided Jack wasn't her future as she thought he once might have been. Then she saw him die, it had only been a month or so ago, and as she stood over him and his eyes glazed over she'd felt such a rush of guilt, the source of which she couldn't identify. She'd forced it down when Cam had grabbed her arm and pulled her away, but now... She raised her hands to her mouth again as it suddenly hit her. The sweatshirt she'd been holding tumbled to the floor as through her mind's eye she relived the moment he died. She'd never told him that she had come to terms with them only being friends. Did he die still thinking that she...? She looked in the direction of Cam once more. She was fairly certain he'd never known about her and Jack, but if he ever found out she didn't want him to think she was only with him because she couldn't be with Jack.

She grabbed her dropped sweatshirt and threw it on the bed and rushed to her messenger bag on the chair and searched the pockets for her 'team' phone. She needed to get her feelings down right now, so she could one day prove to him how she felt. She flipped it open and navigated to the camera functions, hitting record so it was filming with the secondary camera which faced her.

"Cam, I love you. I do. I love you. When I first saw you at the Academy, when we worked together through my courses and projects there, when we flew together in the Middle East. I realise now that I loved you then as well." She held a hand up to her mouth as she recalled all those times at the officer's mess when they'd talked about her becoming an astronaut, and then she'd gone to Washington, leaving him thinking she'd given up on that dream. She let her hand fall once more and looked into the camera again "You shared my dreams, Cam, you always did, and I... I shared yours, I _really_ did. You know why I left now, you know why I couldn't tell you, but believe me, it nearly killed me that I couldn't." She looked down for several moments as she tried to organise her thoughts, but there was never an easy way to say these things. "We never had an understanding, we never even imagined we shared each others feelings. You know I've been engaged twice... I don't really want to talk about that, I need to talk about something else." She looked away to the side for a moment. "I need to talk about Jack." she whispered before looking back to the camera.

She let her hand holding the phone fall to her side as she could feel tears welling up. She walked over to the bed and sat down next to her bag. She held her phone in her lap and looked down into it again, passing a hand over her cheeks.

"Jack and I, for a while there, we were..." She chuckled and looked away, how can you describe something you don't know the shape of, something with unknown dimensions, unlearned extent, unquantified substance. "We were something... more than friends... never quite lovers... not because we didn't want it... we did, but..." she paused and looked into the camera again, "you know why, it was the same for you, right? Frat regs..." She looked down again, rubbing the skin on her wrist with her thumb. "I loved him, Cam. Not like I love you, I realise that now, but I loved him. I wanted... the chance to be with him. That's why I left the SGC before you arrived." She looked up into the camera again. "I realised while I was at Area 51 that it wasn't going to happen, neither one of us could move to bridge the gap that existed between us. I guess we just didn't have the strength to lay our heart directly in the firing line." She chuckled and looked back at the ceiling for a moment. "Like that song that was playing when I came to see you the night before you graduated. I couldn't just say to him 'you can have this heart to break.'" She lifted the phone and held it closer, staring forcefully into the camera, her eyes fierce. "I can say that to you, Cameron, I can give you my heart without reservation and if you need to, you can break it. I can do it because I know you're doing the same for me. I'm not running away from Jack or his death, I'm running towards where I belong. And that's you, Cameron. You're my home. Ever since you brought me back to SG-1, I've been running towards you. I know that now. I love you, Cam. With everything I have in me. Never doubt that." She stared into the camera for a long moment before she stopped recording and closed her phone. She felt drained. She opened the phone again and looked at the time, seeing it was well past four o'clock. She sighed then narrowed her eyes as she scrutinised the wallpaper, just something abstract and vapid that had come with the phone. She'd have to do something about it.

* * *

San Diego, California, September 2010

Cameron looked over to Sam as she drove their rental car through Muirlands, north of San Diego. She'd deny it, but she was nervous. He reached across and stroked her cheek, feeling the tension under her skin. She turned to look at him and her expression softened. Such a simple gesture which had such a profound effect. He smiled gently, still amazed at how much she trusted him, it was the only reason he could affect her that way. His hand had moved along with her cheek and he took the long lock of golden hair which hung down her cheek and let it run over his finger. She turned back to look at the road again, indicating to make a turn up ahead. If he could get her talking about something other than her family for a bit she might be able to relax before they arrived.

"You spoke with Daniel after we got back from Atlantis, right?" He reached over and turned the radio down to almost nothing before she replied. She nodded with a slight smile.

"Yes, he was very irritated with the 'constant interruption from the SGC' as he put it." Her gaze flicked over to Cam's before returning to the road and he grinned at the glint in them. She meant that he resented having to get his nose out of the books for five minutes every two days to give a sit rep without even having to leave the confines of the library.

"Happy as a clam then, is he?" he concluded and she nodded with a broad smile.

"Surprisingly, Teal'c says Vala is as well." She smiled at his quirked eyebrow when she glanced over. "You'd think she'd be bored out of her mind, but I think remembering her time on Odyssey has made her far more interested in learning about other people's legends and myths."

"There are only seven different stories after all." Cam said with a grin and Sam gave a small murmur of assent.

"So she's been talking to the townspeople while Daniel's been reading in the Library and they've been 'pooling their research' at the end of each day." She flashed a bright smile.

"I'm glad." His eyes flicked to the dark metal band wrapped snugly around his left wrist, he pulled his arm in and looked down at it. "Why do you think these things keep telling us not to take them off for a while." He turned his wrist over and over, happily smirking while it displayed the time for him. Sam glanced down at the band around her own left wrist, but looked up quickly again to focus on the road.

"It told me it had to calibrate the Archive." she replied. He grunted. When they'd returned to Atlantis wearing the clasps Rodney had threatened to cut Cam's hand off to get at the band on his wrist. Sam glared at him and he wised up quickly enough. The fact Dr. Keller was standing right next to Sam glaring away at him in the same way probably had something to do with it as well. The eggheads at the SGC had been similarly unhappy they couldn't get one of them off either Sam or Cam. General Landry just raised his eyebrows and smirked at them, shaking his head. He'd pretty much come to terms with the fact that SG-1 had become almost semi-autonomous since shifting operations to Selenis. He and General O'Neill seemed more than happy to share custody of Earth's premier SG team.

"Calibrate the Archive." He frowned slightly. "Don't know why it needs calibration." Sam shrugged her shoulders slightly as she turned into a leafy street with a mismatch of bungalows and two story homes on either side. She parked in front of a whitewashed house lined with flowering bushes along the front of the building. She sighed heavily and he took her hand and turned it over, kissing the heel of her palm before squeezing it gently. She smiled and nodded. "Well, not being able to take them off might make this sorta weird. People kinda look strangely at couples with matching accessories." He grinned and held his wrist up, only for his eyes to widen in surprise when the clasp shimmered and warped to look like a bulky digital watch. "What the Hell?" He looked over to Sam who was staring at her own wrist with her mouth slightly agape. Her band had similarly altered its appearance, changing into a silver watch with a rounded rectangular housing and an elongated elliptical analogue face, inset with blue tinged metalwork. He frowned at it. "That looks familiar." She looked up into his eyes before chuckling breathlessly and looking at the watch again as it nestled on the underside of her wrist..

"It should. You gave it to me as a birthday present in the alternate timeline. I loved this watch so much!" She looked up to him and grinned before leaning across to him and kissing him tenderly. "You have such good taste, sweetie." He laughed as she pulled away.

"I guess I do. I hope I don't wake up soon to find out the clerk at the store recommended it to me." He rubbed the back of his neck as she laughed, then turned to open his door. Cam stepped out onto the small pavement in front of the home of Mark Carter and Family. He looked over the roof of the car at Sam as she climbed out of the driver's side and saw her face split into a grin when he heard a high pitched squeal from behind him.

"Aunt Samantha!" cried a teenaged girl who came around from the side of house where a driveway disappeared, presumably leading to a garage. Sam came around the back of the car and leaned down as the girl ran straight into her arms. "It's so good to see you!"

"Hey, Lisa! How's my favourite tennis player?" She pulled away from the grinning girl slightly and stroked her hair with a very broad smirk. The very picture of an indulgent aunt. Cam grinned happily and Sam instantly turned to look at him with a glare. He raised his hands in surrender. The young girl turned towards Cam, looking him up and down. She turned to Sam with a curious look in her eyes.

"I'm fine Auntie Sam, more importantly, is this the guy?" She looked at Cam again. "Your fiancé?" Cam grinned and stepped forward, holding out his hand.

"Cameron Mitchell, pleasure to meet you, Lisa." He smiled as the girl took his hand and shook it, Sam held on to Lisa's shoulders. She leaned down to whisper in the girl's ear which had her giggling as she again eyed Cam sidelong then burbled a hello before running off back towards the rear of the house, motioning for them to follow. Sam watched her go before turning to Cam and holding out her hand, he took it and fell into step alongside her. "What did you say to her just then?" Sam glanced at him from the corner of her eye and smiled, but said nothing. He glared in response to her silence until they walked into the back yard to find Mark Carter standing over a grill and Lisa talking animatedly with a woman who must be her mother, Julia. A teenaged boy, slightly older than Lisa, was running around the bottom of the garden, wrestling a frisbee away from a labrador who barked excitedly, pouncing from side to side in front of him.

Mark hung his tongs off the side of the grill when he spotted them and rubbed his hands on a dish cloth as he walked over, flicking it to lie over his shoulder before holding out his arms to bring Sam into a small embrace, kissing her cheeks. He glanced at Cam while Sam made introductions.

"Hey Mark, it's good to see you, sorry it's been so long." she began apologetically, he gave her a rueful smile, having heard the same from their father so often before. "This is Cameron, he finally got up the courage to ask me out just last year." She chuckled at Cam's dramatic glare as he shook Mark's proffered hand.

"Sam tells me we've met before. When we were kids?" He looked between both of them until Cam replied.

"Yeah, back in '78, Memorial Day BBQ in McLean." he replied. Mark frowned slightly.

"1978? I was six in 1978." He looked at Sam for a moment as Cam chuckled.

"You certainly were." Cam declared. "You were _very_ six." Mark chuckled himself and Sam smiled in relief when she saw it.

"I'm sure I was." He rubbed at his chin momentarily then pointed at Cam. "You were the kid with the Major Matt Mason action figures that Sam didn't have." Both Cam and Sam nodded with broad grins. "She was talking about you all the way home." Sam flushed bright red and turned away as Cam whirled on her with an evil smirk.

"I was talking about the dolls!" she declared without looking at him. Mark just started laughing as Julia and Lisa began walking over. Cam saw that the teenaged boy was walking over as well and when he spotted Cam watching him, tossed the frisbee in his direction. Cam caught it as the labrador chased after it and leapt up at him eagerly. Sam must have seen a chance at a reprieve as she began petting the dog who obligingly slobbered all over her hands. "Hey Scoundrel! How are you, boy?" The dog barked in reply as Sam stood up to greet her sister-in-law.

"So it's 'third time's the charm', is it, Sam?" Julia teased with a smile as she arrived and gave Sam a hug and kiss on the cheek. Sam tilted her head to the side and gave her a mock-glare. Julia chuckled a little and held her hand out for Cameron to shake. "Welcome to the family, Cameron. Please take good care of our Sam."

"I will... Julia, right?" he raised his eyebrows and she nodded happily as she went to stand by Mark with an arm around his waist. Lisa knelt down by Scoundrel and ruffled his chest as the last member of Mark Carter's brood arrived. "And you must be David." Cam held out his hand and returned the teenager's hand shake firmly. "It's really good meeting you all." Sam came and gave David a hug which he cringed at slightly as was the way with teenaged boys.

"Can I get you two anything to drink?" asked Julia as she began to make her way to the kitchen.

"I'll have a beer." replied Sam with a smile. "Do you want a hand, Jules?"

"No, Sam, you stay right there. Same for you, Cameron?" Julia enquired from the step at the back door. Cam shook his head.

"Not for me, I'm driving us back to the hotel." he replied. "Just a coke will do me fine." Julia nodded with a smile.

"Very responsible. Forward planning is good." Mark nodded with a lop-sided smile. Cam chuckled.

"Sam's idea. My idea of forward planning is a frontal assault with overwhelming firepower." Cam said with a serious face. Sam gave him a warning look.

"And does that work?" David asked.

"Surprisingly, not that often. Hence why Sam is in charge of all the planning." Cam replied. Mark chuckled and Lisa giggled looking up at her aunt. Sam shook her head.

"Don't listen to him, David. Cameron can be very strategic when he puts his mind to it." Sam poked Cam and her nephew grinned.

"Sure I can. When what I mean by 'overwhelming firepower' is 'nuke 'em from orbit, it's the only way to be sure.'" Cam elaborated and David laughed.

"Alright, Aunt Sam, he'll do." David pronounced with a smile as he began jogging down the garden while looking over his shoulder with a hand up. "Over here, _Uncle_ Cameron!" Cam grinned and waved the frisbee in front of Scoundrel which had the dog wagging his tail excitedly. He then sent a backhand throw sailing across the garden for David to catch while the labrador ran after it, followed by Lisa moments after.

"Well, thanks a lot for your approval." Sam said with her hands on her hips as Cam smiled at her. He walked down the garden giving her a little look. Mark came to stand next to her and put his arm around her shoulder.

"Is he a good man?" he asked gently. She looked over at him and nodded once. Mark nodded as well before returning to the grill. Julia poked her head out of the back door as Cam threw the frisbee towards Lisa.

"Actually I think I will need a hand. Cameron, If you could help me in here?" She waved at him from the door and he smiled with a nod, then winked at Sam when he heard her groan, she obviously expected trouble. He waved to the kids and walked into the house, finding Julia arranging drinks on a tray as well as bowls of salad and bread. She pointed towards the sink indicating he should wash his hands. "Could you slice some tomatoes for me, please?" She smiled when he nodded and set to work. "You've known Sam a long time, right?" she asked while tearing open some lettuce.

"That's right, since the Academy. Though we met once before." he replied while pushing tomato slices to the edge of the chopping board. He paused and leant against the counter for a moment. He turned to look at his future sister-in-law, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She was a shrewd one. "I admit I should have told her how I felt back then. I don't really have an excuse." He started on another tomato. Julia just replied with a non-committal noise.

"Sam is a strange bird." she began softly. "Sometimes she over-thinks things, as you'd expect from someone with a brain the size of a planet." She glanced over at him with a smile when he chuckled and nodded. "Other times she doesn't think at all. She just does." She lifted the colander out of the sink and closed the tap then leant her hip against the counter to face Cam. "The last two men she got engaged to... I think she did it after a lot of thinking. Just not about them, about other things." He turned a confused gaze to her. "She started dating them determined to be in a relationship." She handed Cam a bowl and he pushed the chopped and sliced tomato into it with his knife. He frowned as he handed the bowl back.

"I don't really like what you're implying." he admitted and Julia shrugged.

"I didn't expect you to. Did you know them?" she put the bowl down and handed him a jar of mayonnaise to be opened.

"I knew Jonas Hanson, but not Pete Shanahan." he replied after handing her the now open jar.

"What was he like?" she asked, preparing the tomato salad without looking at him. He frowned and crossed his arms while looking out the window.

"He was an egomaniacal douchebag with control issues." he breathed, not quite comfortable with the conversation. "I told Sam as much at the time when I heard she had started dating him." Julia nodded.

"She stopped talking to you for a while, I bet." she added and Cam nodded. "That's my point. She wasn't thinking about him when she was making her choices. She wasn't even thinking about herself." She walked to the table with the prepared bowl and put it on the tray with the other salads and bread. "On the other hand, she thinks about you, and about herself when she's with you. She told me that much when she admitted you two got engaged only a few of months after you started dating. She didn't over-think _that_ decision." Cam leaned back against the counter as Julia looked him up and down. "That's why I think she's got it right this time. She has the balance right, she thinks about you and herself, not about being in a relationship." Cam smiled softly and let his gaze drop to the floor. "She retired for you, didn't she?" she asked softly and Cam only nodded, still not happy with that. She chuckled. "Usually when someone retires, they don't carry on doing the exact same job." She looked over at Cameron. "I don't know what it is the two of you do, but I can tell you both love it. Just..." she paused and looked out the window beyond Cam's shoulder, she must have been looking at her husband. She turned a stern gaze back to Cam. "Is she your first priority?"

"No." he declared without hesitation. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Sam and I both know that we'll have to make very hard choices in our job. That's what it means to do what we do." He stood up straight , walked towards the table and picked up the tray of food. "She'll say the exact same thing I just did." Julia just looked at him aghast. "I promise you one thing though, Sam won't be on her own. She and I are one." He turned towards the door and stopped when Julia called him back.

"I don't understand what that means." she admitted as he looked over his shoulder.

"It means that the job is the job, but Sam is my soul. Nothing in this universe, or any other, can keep me away from her." he explained only to be surprised by Sam at the open window.

"Hey, where's my beer?" she teased then frowned at the strained look on Julia's face. "What?"

"Julia asked me if you were my first priority." Cam told her. She smiled ruefully at him before turning to Julia.

"Jules, that's not the right question." she explained. Julia shook her head slightly so Sam turned back to Cam. "Cameron, where are you going to be when the time comes?" she asked seriously.

"At your side." he replied with even less hesitation than when he answered Julia's question, knowing it had already happened that way once to his alternate self. "No matter what."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 3**

Colmery-O'Neil VA Medical Center, Topeka, Kansas, June 1980

Cameron walked down the corridor of the recovery ward at which his father was staying, clutching the juice box he'd managed to get from the canteen in one hand. He walked slowly. He wanted to be with his Dad, but at the same time he was scared. Sometimes his Dad just stared out the window without saying anything when Cam tried to talk to him. He was trying, his Dad really was trying, but Cam knew he would never really be the same again. So he dragged his feet as he absent-mindedly fiddled with the straw sticking out from his juice. He looked up to see an Air Force officer in a blue dress uniform coming out of his father's hospital room. He looked familiar, but Cam couldn't really say from where. The man recognised him though, that much was clear, because he walked right over when he spotted the boy. He stopped in front of Cam and squatted down next to him.

"Cameron, right?" he asked and Cam nodded. "Do you remember me, son?" He shrugged. "I'm Jacob, a friend of your father's. We met a couple of years ago at a barbecue, you played with my daughter." Cam had a vague recollection of playing with a girl at a barbecue so he nodded. "How are you holding up?" He shrugged and Jacob looked around then stood up, leading him over to some chairs against the wall. He sat down and motioned for Cam to do the same. He settled himself on the chair next to the officer and laid his juice down in the next seat then looked at the floor between his feet. "I've just been speaking with your father," Jacob began softly, his voice controlled. "I've known him for a long time, you know? We were at the Academy together." He gave a small smile. "Always had his head in the clouds, your Dad, could think of nothing except flying higher, faster and farther." He turned to face Cam who had looked up at the wistful tone in the man's voice. "He was a pure flyer, that's what drove him. Flying is his life." Cam looked down again.

"He can't fly anymore." Cam murmured just above a whisper. Jacob gave a rueful smile.

"I don't know about that. Have you ever heard of Douglas Bader?" he asked. Cam shook his head. "I suppose not. He's a British pilot, he flew Spitfires during World War II. Of course that's not why I'm bringing it up. He lost both his legs in a crash years before the war, but he still flew, and shot down twenty-two German planes." Cam stared at him wide-eyed and Jacob chuckled. "So I think your Dad will still be able to fly," he sighed deeply, "just not for the Air Force." He looked at Cam regretfully and put an arm around the boy's shoulder. "I had to tell him that today, I hated it, but I had my orders. Do you want to know what he told me after that?" Cam nodded without looking up. "He told me he was scared you'd stop wanting to be a pilot." Cam looked up as he blinked furiously. "That's what he's worried about, son. That what happened to him will make you afraid of flying." Cam looked down as the tears rolled down his cheek.

"I'm not afraid of flying." Cam whispered and Jacob gave his shoulder a squeeze. "I'm afraid of having to look out a window all day because I can't." Cam sighed when Jacob's arms enveloped him.

* * *

Air Force Academy, October 1989

Third class Cadet/Staff Sergeant Samantha Carter froze in the hall outside her Signals Int lab and her eyes widened in horror when she spotted the general standing just a little further down the corridor talking to the class' instructor, Major Lescott. She ducked her head slightly and strode into the room amid a gaggle of other cadets and took up her typical seat at the corner of the front row. Trying desperately to act like nothing was amiss. Inwardly she was cringing and her heart was racing a mile a minute wondering what he was doing here, talking to her professor. She clenched her jaw as the bell rang the hour and Major Lescott walked in with the general in tow. Everyone stood up immediately.

"Good morning, Cadets." began the Major. "We have a very special guest joining us this week. It is my pleasure to introduce you to Brigadier General Jacob Carter, he's here from the Pentagon with a very important mission for all of you." He nodded deferentially to the older man who thanked him with another nod. Sam was just happy her father had done no more than glance her way as he came in.

"At ease, Cadets." Jacob ordered and they obeyed. He looked around the room for several moments as he paced back and forth in front of the first row of seats. When he arrived at the middle of the row once more he turned and squared his shoulders to face them. "Cadets," he intoned gravely, "Major Jeremy Lescott is a traitor to this country, and I need your help to prove it." Stunned silence followed his declaration as all the cadets looked around at each other. Major Lescott looked on gravely. "He is in communication with agents of a foreign power, discussing matters vital to national security. Matters which have been classified as 'Top Secret' by the Joint Chiefs and the President of the United States himself." He glanced at the picture of President Bush which hung on the wall. By this point most of the cadets had figured out this was a training assignment, but the seriousness with which General Carter spoke still had them all tense, which Sam was sure was the point. "We have reliable intelligence that Major Lescott will be communicating with his foreign contacts at 2000 hours this Thursday evening from his office in Fairchild Hall." He turned to Lescott and gave him a mock-sour glare. "In order to convict this villain, I require audio proof of his crimes." He turned back to the class and gave them all a stern look. "I will return on Friday, Cadets. Do not disappoint me!" he ordered and they all came to attention once more and rattled off a 'yes, sir' loudly. He nodded and strode out of the classroom.

"Alright, Cadets." Lescott stepped forward into the void. "We still have four days until you have to gather proof of my complicity with extra-national conspirators, so let's use that time to learn something useful. Take your seats..." They all complied as the Major began his lesson. Sam's mind was already wandering, trying to formulate possible solutions to her assigned task.

She was seated at her usual table in the Mitchell Hall dining room at lunch when Cameron slid his tray along the table to the seat across from hers. She glanced up from the schematic diagrams for listening devices she'd been perusing and smiled at him as he rubbed his hands in eager anticipation of his lasagne.

"How's it goin', Sam?" he greeted her with a wide smile and his gaze flicked down to the files in front of her. "New project?" He began slicing into his pasta with the side of his fork and shovelling it into his mouth. She smirked, he was likely wondering what he'd have to do to make sure she got any sleep this week. She had to forcefully remind herself that he had been ordered to watch over her at the Academy.

"Special assignment for Signals Int." she stated, pushing the schematics across for him to look at. He lifted his eyebrows as he swallowed another forkful of minced meat and cheese sauce.

"Major Lescott still up to his treasonous tricks, I see." he said as the corners of his eyes crinkled in amusement. "I would have thought he'd have learned his lesson after I caught him dead to rights last year." Sam's eyes widened slightly at his words. Cam had actually gotten a successful recording for this assignment last year? She frowned slightly. She so wanted to pick his brains, but she also wanted to solve this on her own. "What are you expecting?" She glanced up as he munched on his pasta and looked at her impassively. She had to admit, he knew how she liked to do things.

"At 2000 hours, Major Lescott will place a call from his office to person or persons unknown, he will divulge state secrets over this call and hang up the phone in less than a minute." She rattled off the particulars as much for her own clarification as his. "He will conduct an active surveillance sweep of his office before making the call. The call will be scrambled. It will be masked with some sort of white noise generator. He will speak no louder than a normal conversational level. He will be facing away from the window of his office, but that is irrelevant since lip-reading will be insufficient." Cameron nodded to each one of her points as he looked down at his lasagne and chewed happily. She looked up at the flash of dress blues in the corner of her eye and cringed when she saw who was approaching them. This wasn't happening. Cam looked up at her when she groaned then turned his head when the dress blues stopped right next to him. He shot up to his feet and Sam reluctantly joined him.

"Cadet/Lt. Colonel Mitchell, is it?" Jacob asked as he held out his hand and addressed Cam with his newly received rank. Cam took his hand hesitantly as he blinked in surprise.

"Yes, sir, General Carter." he replied and turned to Sam for an instant with a curious glint in his eye. Sam sighed when she realised Cam knew exactly who he was. Jacob turned and nodded to her.

"Cadet/Staff Sergeant Carter, I hope I'm not interrupting anything." he said with a tiny quirk of his lip. Sam clenched her jaw. It wasn't his words. It was his emphasis.

"No, sir, General Carter." she replied stiffly. Jacob looked back at Cam and looked him up and down appraisingly for several moments.

"I caught the game against Navy on tape, son." he said with a smile. "Came over to shake your hand. I like it when we give the Midshipmen a good trouncing."

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Cam replied sheepishly. Jacob began walking away with a significant look at his daughter.

"Carry on, Cadets." he muttered, to which they rattled off crisp 'yes, sir's before sitting down again. Cam took a few moments to breathe before picking up his fork once more and Sam had to cover her eyes for a moment herself. She pulled the files back towards her and looked them over again, trying to regain her train of thought, Cam was happy to join her in that.

"All of these devices I've been looking at have issues with them. I suppose I could try working around them with a design of my own, but I don't have that sort of time." she grumbled with a slight frown. "Physical presence will be impossible. No raised floors or ceiling crawlspaces with access. His office will also be locked at all times when he isn't personally there, which makes placing a device very tricky." Cam nodded again and frowned at her when he looked up and saw the look on her face. He grunted and looked back down to his half-eaten meal. "What?" she asked with a baleful glare. He glanced up again and his blue eyes were sparkling malevolently.

"Just... I think you're looking at this problem like an Air Force cadet." he replied and smirked at her look of confusion and took a drink of his orange juice. She tilted her head to the side with a frown and a small grimace.

"Well, that's a lot of nothing, Mitchell." she grumbled in consternation. He chuckled at her. "What?" She was going to hit him in a second.

"Sam, what's one of the things the Air Force teaches us? They teach us to play to our strengths, right?" He smiled and pointed at the files in front of her. "That's not where your strengths are, _Dr_. Carter." he sniggered as she crossed her arms across her chest. She didn't like it when he sometimes brought up her doctorate that way, as if she weren't really an Air Force officer-in-training. She couldn't shake the feeling he meant something else by it though. "Tell me, Sam, you can bounce a laser off the Moon, can't you bounce one off a satellite and patch into the TV in his office and turn it into a microphone or something?" She scoffed at the ridiculous idea, but stopped in her tracks as her eyes glazed over into an intent look. "Oh, here we go. Don't tell me I was right." He chuckled.

"No, your idea is ridiculous on its face," she breathed softly as he lifted an eyebrow, she turned to look at him as a smile slowly spread across her lips, "but I don't need to bounce a laser that far anyway." She grinned and stood up. "Come on, _sir_," she said mockingly as he glared at her, "I need another of your armatures, with fine control micro-adjusters."

Thursday evening rolled around to find Sam and Cam atop the roof of the Robert F. McDermott Library across from Fairchild Hall to the south. She finished coupling the power line to the laser assembly, not much larger than a hefty flashlight and checked her alignment guides once more. She also checked on the beam-splitter and interferometer arrangement she was going to use to turn the coherent beam of light into a microphone. She smiled ruefully in Cam's direction as he was triple checking the armature he'd manufactured to hold the lenses and reflectors which would angle and focus the beam down from the roof of the Library and across the gap into the window of Major Lescott's office. They decided to bounce the laser off a white porcelain vase on the desk. She glanced at her watch and gave a last test of the angles. The returned signal from the closed loop she formed with the last mirror returning the beam were a success. It was time to try and align it properly with the target. As they were aiming the beam down at an angle, they needed the convex surface of the vase to find an angle of incidence that would return the beam back along its course. She looked over at her optical sensors and began the fine adjustments to the mirrors as Cam came to sit beside her with his back against the low wall at the side of the roof. He looked over at the electronic equipment which would convert the interferometer telemetry into usable audio. He glanced at his watch.

"Time's up, Sam. Do or die." he whispered and she nodded, signalling everything was in readiness. She turned on the recorder and handed Cam a set of headphones, he held one of the cans to his ear as she did the same with her pair. The clock on Lescott's desk chimed 2000 hours and Cam held the headphone away from his ear for a moment and looked down at it in surprise. Sam glanced at him when he looked at her and flashed him a bright grin which he returned, replacing the can over his ear. Lescott had already completed his surveillance sweep five minutes previously, discovering several listening devices which he swept away into a box and left in the department secretary's office next door for their hapless owners to collect in the morning. When he sat down at his desk he lifted a remote control and switched on a TV across from him and Sam grimaced at what she heard, cursing. "What is it, Sam?" She looked over with an angry look.

"He's using the crowd noise from some game as his white noise generator. None of the filters I wrote are going to work." She cursed again. "I need a clean source to work my noise cancellation routines. Now I'm going to have to figure out what game it is, what broadcast it's from... urg!" She cursed again, but Cam just listened intently. "What?"

"Navy game, fourth quarter, third and four on our eighteen, yep, that's my long bomb." He looked up and grinned at what must have been a very shocked expression she was making. "Come on, Sam, just 'cause I played in the game doesn't mean Coach didn't have us watching the broadcast over and over. Hell, Stewie at the sports bar in town has a tape he keeps behind the counter which he queues up whenever I walk in for lunch. The man hates Navy." She blinked in surprise. "I musta listened to this play with commentary over a dozen times already." She focused on the audio again and heard the distinctive ring of the phone being hung up. She turned off her recording equipment.

"You're sure?" she asked when she looked up at Cam who had already gotten up to go dismantle the armatures. He just nodded at her with a serious look. She began disconnecting her equipment, deep in thought.

At lunchtime the next day she was polishing off her salad as Cam sat down across from her and raised his eyebrows expectantly with an insufferable smile on his lips. She looked down and shook her head with her own small smile. Her father had returned to the classroom that morning and alongside Major Lescott played the three successful recordings which had enabled the entire class to pass. They were particularly effusive about her recording. She was only glad that no one in her class seemed to have noticed that General Carter was her father, or that if they did they didn't think she had accrued any advantage from it.

"Major Jeremy Lescott has been convicted of High Treason and has been sentenced to hang from the neck until dead." she intoned in a grave voice. Cam slapped the table with a laugh.

"A fitting end for a traitorous dog!" he exclaimed with a wide grin and Sam chuckled along with him. She watched him appraisingly as he started on his spaghetti and meatballs and took a sip of her apple juice.

"Cam?" she began and he glanced up to look at her. "How did you get your recording last year?" She was surprised when he turned away slightly before looking back her way with a distinctly uncomfortable look in his eyes. "Cam?" she asked with a hint of worry in her voice. He cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"Hmm... I just listened in on the only other phone in the building which has a direct connection to the one in Major Lescott's office, before the scrambling can take effect, no need to worry about white noise, just his voice right down the wire." he spoke softly, almost embarrassed and dared not look up from his food. She blinked as the gears in her head began to whirr and clack and things started tumbling into place. The only phone that could possibly match that description would be the phone on the desk of the department secretary, which could only be used with special pin access, which was only known to the instructors and... the rather attractive, red-headed secretary. She didn't even notice as her eyes narrowed and her brows furrowed in a deep scowl.

"Cameron..." she began in a decidedly menacing tone.

"I made no promises, I took no liberties, I accepted no enticements." he declared while brandishing his fork defensively.

* * *

USS Odyssey, above P3X-474, May 2007 + 1,139 days relative

Cam spread his arms along the curved wall of the enclosed corner of their new pool, letting his head sag on his neck and shoulders as the warm water bubbled to the pulse of the water jets built into the walls. Daniel sat across from him, similarly draped over the rim of the circular pool. They both peeked through a half-opened eye when Teal'c entered and sat himself down across from General Landry who remained determinedly restive. His arms floating slightly in the water rushing from some nozzles beside him. After the Jaffa had settled himself in a pose not unlike that which he took when performing Kelno'reem, Cam sighed and frowned softly. Something was very wrong. As he glanced at the faces of his friends he quickly realised what it was. Four guys should not be able to sit in a hot tub while feeling so little awkwardness. It was against the laws of physics.

"Jackson, aren't you glad General O'Neill ain't here?" he asked in an attempt to rectify the situation. Daniel's eyes remained closed, but his brows furrowed for a long moment. Teal'c glanced between Cam and Daniel with a tiny smirk while General Landry was biting his lower lip to keep his chin from visibly trembling from the effort of containing a laugh. After another moment Daniel sat up straight and leaned forward slightly, still not taking his arms from off the wall. He opened his eyes and stared into the water a while before looking at Cam as he lounged across from him, seemingly unperturbed.

"That's... that's just wrong, Mitchell. You're a bastard!" General Landry burst out laughing and Cam joined him while Daniel glared at them all equally, Teal'c lifted an eyebrow as if to ask why he was being glared at, but it was obvious he was having trouble keeping his lips from curling up in mirth. "Go to Hell! The lot of you!" fumed the archaeologist.

"Stop teasing my Daniel, Cameron." came Vala's trilled admonishment as she let the sheer fabric of her floral print kaftan slip from her fingers after lifting it theatrically over her head to reveal her dark gold and black two piece. She then stepped into the pool slowly and waded purposefully towards Daniel, her fingers running through the water. Cam smiled at the look on his friend's face and shook his head lightly as Vala sat down very slowly beside the archaeologist and looped her arms around his neck. She flicked her loose hair over her shoulder and leaned in for a kiss.

"And what are you smirking at, Mitchell?" came a melodious voice from above him as he felt fingers tousle his damp hair. He leaned his head back and froze at the sight of her as she stood up from her crouch and came around to the steps into the pool. She cocked her hip out with a hand on it as she gave him a teasing glance. She smoothed down the white on blue hibiscus patterned short sarong wrapped around her waist and stepped into the water in her sea blue halter-topped bandeau. He knew he couldn't really string any coherent thoughts together as he watched the water lap up her calves, then her thighs and over her hip, darkening the fabric around the burning white hibiscus stamped across the top of her thigh, right where her leg met her abdomen. His brain stopped working completely at that point, he was left with just the impression of the bubbling water flowing around the skin of her tummy and higher as she immersed herself briefly in the water before standing up again to wade towards him as the rivulets ran down her alabaster skin. The next thing he knew she was sitting next to him, picking up his wrist from the wall behind her and draping his hand across her shoulder, leaning against him tightly and touching his jaw so he would turn to face her. She kissed him gently, letting her fingers linger on his cheek and biting his lower lip slightly. He blinked rapidly as her head finally settled to rest on his shoulder, her hair nestled into the crook of his neck and she sighed languorously.

"Aren't_ you_ glad Jack isn't here, Mitchell?" Daniel taunted sarcastically while Vala was smiling at Sam and Cam. She gave a little frown as he spoke and slapped playfully at the linguist. Sam bit her lip with a smile and looked away without taking her head from his shoulder and Cam turned to glare at the archaeologist.

"Not another word, Jackson." he said warningly and Daniel laughed.

* * *

Selenis, Luna, September 2010

Sam was lying on her stomach in bed when she felt the collar of her pyjama top pulled down. She shivered when Cameron's warm lips brushed the skin at the nape of her neck. She purred and shrugged her shoulders, pressing her face further into the pillow. She sensed him leaning over her and she moaned lightly when he nibbled on her ear.

"Time to get up, honey, you have a meeting in thirty minutes." he whispered with an incongruously arousing growl. It kept his words from registering in her tired brain for several moments while he kissed along her jaw and neck and she smiled blissfully. When they did register however, her eyes flew open and she leapt from the bed as he laughed. She dashed for the washroom while cursing him and his warm kisses with vehement language and a withering glance which would have had anyone else quailing in fear. She quickly set about brushing her teeth while stripping Cam's pyjama top off awkwardly with one hand. He came to lean against the door frame with his arms crossed over his black t-shirt, his ring on its chain resting just a few inches under his collar bone, and watched her appreciatively with a slight smile. She glared and threw the top in his face as he chuckled. She was happy when he made himself useful and switched the shower on for her. He was like that. She was rinsing out her mouth as he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the side of her neck. "I know there's no time. Just want you to know..." She grinned and spun in his arms and kissed him tenderly.

"Me too, but you're right, no time." She pushed him out of the washroom to avoid temptation and headed for the shower. When she came out wrapped in towels, she found Cam staring out past the screen in their room, which he'd made translucent, examining the rock wall and the pattern of shadows cast on it by the lights shining from the structures atop the jumper bay below their quarters. She came up behind him and slipped her arms around him, caressing his chest as she pressed into his back. "No time, but I want to." He chuckled and patted her hands until she pulled away. She retrieved her ring and clasped the chain around her neck and started to get dressed using the clothes which Cam had put out for her while she showered.

"~Selenis, who designed the layout of these quarters? I don't understand why this screen looks out on such a worthless view.~" He put a hand on the matrix and leaned against it looking out at the jumper bay below. Sam had slipped on her underwear and was hooking her t-shirt over her head when the AI spoke.

"~The layout of these quarters and many others were designed by Jenavia Reia and approved by Ilemus. The view is much better when seen from the surface.~" Selenis replied matter-of-factly. Sam froze with her eyes just peaking through the collar of the shirt and blinked, turning to look at Cam who stared at her dumbfounded.

"Say again?" Cam asked incredulously. She finished getting her shirt on and pulled her still-damp hair out and began straightening it out with the cherry wood comb she picked up from her dressing table. She moved to stand next to Cam.

"~The layout of these quarters and many others were designed by Jenavia Reia and approved by Ilemus. The view is much better when seen from the surface.~" Selenis repeated exactly.

"~Selenis, you can emerge onto the surface?~" Sam looked out the window, imagining what the implications of this were.

"~Of course, Dr. Carter. I am capable of raising the central administration and habitation section to the surface, including Command and Flight Control, the 'gate room 'jumper' bay and the tower spires above and around them.~" Sam stared at Cam in stunned amazement. "~The research wings to treblin and hamman side lose direct access along the tiers, but access by transporter is unaffected. The 'jumper' bay also retains access to the main hangar while gaining external access in its own right.~" Cam looked at Sam and she looked down when he nodded at her half dressed state.

"~Selenis, please contact the attendees of my meeting and tell them it will have to be rescheduled.~" She finished getting dressed as quickly as she could while Cam finished his own preparations.

"~Done, Dr. Carter.~" Selenis acknowledged and Sam thanked her.

"~Selenis, remember that talk we had about you telling us your features and capabilities?~" Cam shrugged on the jacket of his black off-world base BDUs, straightening his collar with its silver threaded eagles.

"~I do, Colonel Mitchell.~" The AI paused for a moment. "~Would this be one of those?~" Cam chuckled manically, as they left their quarters by the upstairs entrance and headed for the transporter.

"~Cam, Selenis' thought processes aren't like ours. She can't keep the entirety of her databanks in her awareness at any given time or have access to it in the same way we do our memories.~" Sam explained as they transitioned nearby Command, entering it by the hamman side entrance. "~Until she's asked to search for the data in some fashion, such information is likely not available to her processing cortex except in a roundabout way.~"

"~A simplistic, but essentially accurate description, Dr. Carter.~" Selenis added.

"~So the real question is why none of us asked the question for two months?~" he groused and she nodded with a rueful smile. "~Selenis, base-wide announcement please.~" He paused until he heard the small burble of confirmation then pressed the button on his comm. "All personnel, this is Colonel Mitchell. Gather in the 'gate room at once." He winced suddenly and Sam looked at him questioningly. "Vala's going to be pissed that she wasn't here for this." Sam laughed.

"Are you kidding? She's going to make us do it again and then pretend that was the first time." She laughed along with him when he nodded his agreement as they moved to stand between the stairs, looking out over the hangar. Cam motioned his hand over the wall and a set of controls appeared in the matrix, ready to use.

"~How long will this take Selenis?~" he asked, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed.

"~I am able to completely rise to the surface in approximately ten minutes.~" replied the AI and Cam's eyebrows rose in surprise. Sam leaned against the wall next to him and laid her hand on his arm and smiled. The two dozen or so scientists and engineers straggled into the 'gate room, hovering in small clusters, while the few squads of Marines charged with base security entered in a somewhat more coordinated manner. Captain Wells came to stand by them looking slightly concerned, but this was alleviated when they quietly explained what was happening. The concern was replaced with incredulity. When Selenis confirmed everyone was gathered Sam turned to get everyone's attention, standing just behind the Stargate, allowing it to frame her in its dark metal ring.

"We're about to attempt something which we have only just become aware of. Please don't be too alarmed." She turned and nodded to Cam and he laid his hand on the controls, pressing several buttons and dragging his finger along a slider. Selenis gave a small shudder and everyone jerked slightly until they got their balance again. "Selenis is rising." She announced with a smile. The murmurs which had started as soon as Sam's earlier words had ended now became insistent chatter and excited cries as some observant eyes glanced up and pointed at the set of spot lights which had come on above them, illuminating the iris right above their heads, smaller than the main hangar bay doors, but large enough to allow the spires of Selenis to emerge on to the surface of Luna for the first time in millions of years. Sam came to stand by Cam and he pointed at the display, which indicated the tons of regolith above the double set of irises. It ran off a checklist, indicating the surface contours had been mapped and a hologram stored for future use, and that the rock was being incinerated as the inner iris began opening to allow them access, followed by the outer iris once the surface above it had been cleared. The aperture widened, revealing the stars shining steadily in the near vacuum of the tenuous atmosphere of the Lunar sky. Cam pointed to the towers above and behind the 'gate room and Sam followed his gaze, watching the light of the sun striking the gleaming spires, coruscating rays reflecting down on them from the dozens of shining windows and screens. Cam leaned in close to whisper in her ear.

"Looks like we get a sunset view from our bedroom." He took her hand in his as she chuckled.

"Cam, a Lunar day lasts twenty-eight Earth days." She glanced at him, but he just shrugged with a smile on his face. Of course he'd like the idea of a week long sunset. "Luna is tidally locked, which is why you can never see the far side from Earth, and why we'll never get an Earthrise." He raised her hand and kissed the back of it as her voice became wistful at the end.

As the top of the 'gate room blister emerged above the lip of the iris tunnel onto the surface, the sunlight streamed through the translucent material to light the expanse of the open chamber. The light ate at the shadows in the room in a grand arc across the breadth of it, everyone had moved closer to the walls, pressing their hands and faces to the matrix in expectation of the first view across the surface. Sam and Cam were the only ones watching the sunlight eat its way down from the jumper bay ramp towards the Stargate. Sam gasped when it hit the floor in the middle of the room and she felt Cam squeezing her hand, confirming he saw the same thing she did. As the sunlight cut across the center of the 'gate room it reflected and sparked off something in the material of the tiled floor so that the sigil of Selenis' Point of Origin symbol emerged, shining silver in the sunlight, a crescent emerging to the left from behind a long shallow arc. Cam pulled Sam to him, her back to his chest, and turned them both around to stare out over the Lunar surface when Selenis began slowing her ascent and shuddered once more to a stop. The wall was slightly dimmed with a polarised filter to combat the bare Sun in the sky to the east, but it was still an amazing sight. Cam waved a hand over the wall and the section under its passage obligingly removed the filter, allowing an unobscured view ahead of them, high above the desolate monochrome beauty of Jarvis Crater and the black sky above its rim in the distance. Sam leaned back against his chest and rested her temple against his cheek.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 4**

Al Dhafra AB, United Arab Emirates, September 1993

Cameron looked down at the sealed envelope in his hands as he walked towards the door of his C.O. in the 19th FS out of Al Dhafra in support of Operation Southern Watch. Half his brain was telling him to tear it up and burn the scraps to ash, the other half was telling him that handing it over was what he had to do because he didn't deserve to wear the badges on his chest. He was a murderer. He slipped the letter in his pocket and knocked on the door, still in two minds as the voice from within signalled for him to enter. He opened it and walked in and coming to attention before realising his C.O. wasn't the only man in the room. A General stood next to his commander, looking at him appraisingly and Cam nearly blanched when he saw who it was.

"Captain Mitchell, reporting as ordered, sir." he intoned and his eyes flicked from the Colonel who regarded him worriedly and the General whose eyes were more pensive. Brigadier General Jacob Carter, Commander, 363d Fighter Wing, currently visiting assets deployed in support of Operation Southern Watch, looked over at Cam's C.O. and gave a small nod. The other man nodded back.

"The General wants a word in private with you, Mitchell. We'll talk later." With that, he walked from the room to Cam's alarm. His eyes darted back to General Carter who waited until the white-haired Colonel had left before coming over to the still stiff at attention Cameron and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"At ease, son." he said softly and Cam's shoulders slumped heavily, he managed to clasp his hands behind him and open his stance to the typical 'at ease' pose, but Jacob motioned for him to sit down instead. Cam did so and Jacob followed suit, sitting in the other chair in front of the Colonel's desk. "I know why you're here, Mitchell, and I know what you have in your pocket." Cam looked down and paled again. General Carter remained silent for several moments and Cam almost began to think he was meant to say something and looked up, only to find the General's eyes were soft and weary. "I'm not going to give you the whole spiel about how the Air Force needs you, etc. You know it already, you know it's true, and we both know it is entirely irrelevant." Cam blinked in surprise. "I'll just say, I've been where you are and I can tell you it won't ever get better," Cam smirked ruefully and looked down, "but if you hand over that letter it will definitely get much much worse." He looked up in disbelief. "Go home, talk to your Dad. If you believe what I've said after that, then I'll make sure there's a slot with the 44th out of Kadena waiting for you. You can get out of this hellhole and focus your energies elsewhere, even though all that is irrelevant as well." Cam looked on in confusion. "Will you do that, son?" Cam nodded and stood up when the General did. Jacob put his arm on his shoulder again for a moment before walking to the door. He stopped when Cam called him.

"General Carter?" he hesitated until Jacob lifted his eyebrows enquiringly. "You think my going to talk to my Dad about whether I should resign is irrelevant, but you tell me to do it anyway. Why, sir?" Jacob turned to look out the window for a moment without speaking before looking at Cam again.

"Because Sam's not an astronaut yet." He turned and walked to the door. Leaving Cameron stunned.

* * *

Stargate Command, December 2005

"So you don't know?" Daniel asked as he sat across the lab bench from Sam. Teal'c glanced over at him from the corner where he was examining some items on her shelf. She leaned back in her chair and shook her head as she put her feet up on the desk. She looked down at her hands in her lap and she rubbed her fingers together. She'd had no idea he'd ever had something like that in his past. She was surprised he'd never mentioned anything about it to her before. Perhaps a small petty part of her felt a little put out that he hadn't entrusted her with it. She quashed it viciously. Cameron was one of her oldest friends, he was suffering, she only had to look at him to see that. Whatever he'd had to dredge up was something which ate at the core of him. It had to be. "I'm a little surprised by that." Daniel added softly and she looked up at him as her brows tightened slightly.

"Colonel Mitchell is a soldier, Daniel Jackson." Teal'c turned from Daniel to Sam as he spoke. "All soldiers carry with them a darkness inside they cannot bear to show those they care about." Sam nodded and looked down at her hands again.

"Something that keeps them up at night. Something that stains their sense of self." she added softly and Teal'c bowed slightly though she did not see it. They were silent for a minute or two.

"This is hard." Daniel began. "I know I can't imagine all the things that you've been asked to do, Teal'c, but I sometimes forget that Sam and Cameron... that Jack too..." He brushed a hand through his hair and took his glasses off to squeeze his eyes shut with his fingers. Sam nodded slowly still staring at her thumbs rubbing against the pads of her fingers. "Sam, he'll come to you." She looked up at Daniel's words, her eyes widening. "I think he'll have to come to you now." Teal'c moved to stand beside Daniel as the archaeologist leaned forward over her bench towards her.

"I agree with Daniel Jackson, Colonel Carter. He will come to you." the Jaffa concluded. She looked between them both in slight confusion.

"Why do you think that?" she asked, Daniel simply shook his head.

"Because... you'll understand... and you're you." Daniel shrugged as Teal'c gave him a sidelong glance before turning back to the shelves. "We don't need to know unless he comes to us too, just... take care of him." She looked down at her hands once more with a little nod. Her friends departed quietly, leaving her to her thoughts. An hour later, Daniel's words proved prophetic as Cameron appeared at her door wearing his civvies. She looked up, glancing his way hesitantly.

"Cameron, are you... I know you might not want to..." She looked away, not knowing how to start such a conversation. He just picked up her jacket from the coat hook on her door and walked around her desk. He held out his hand and she took it, feeling his fingers tightening over hers as he pulled her to her feet gently. He helped her with her coat, squeezing her shoulders slightly after she'd threaded her arms through both sleeves, then gave her elbow a little tug, silently asking her to follow him, she fell into step alongside him and stuck her hands in the pockets of her jacket, following the line on the floor to get them out of the base. "Cam..." She stopped when he looked at her, it wasn't a look that was asking for her silence, yet something about it compelled it nonetheless. She let her eyes fall to the ground as they boarded the elevator and rode it to sublevel 11, where they switched elevators to go the rest of the way. Once outside in the car park Cam strolled in the darkness towards his Mustang and unlocked it, opening the passenger side door for her and handing her the grocery bag that had been on the seat before walking around the front of the car to the opposite door. She looked in the bag and didn't like what she saw. A six-pack of beer, a bottle of bourbon and another of coke. He got in and she gave him a worried glance which he just ignored, starting the car and driving off the base, heading into the mountains.

Thirty silent minutes later he turned off the road onto a snowbound gravel run off which led to an overlook point for the forested valley below. He killed the engine and got out, walking around to open the door for her and taking the bag from her in silence. She paused before closing the door and walked to stand in front of him as he sat himself down on the hood.

"Cam, I understand that you might feel like-" She stopped as he fished out the six-pack and handed it to her. She stared at it nonplussed.

"That's for you. You'll need it. Or you can take the bourbon if you think you'll want something stronger." He stuck his hand back in the grocery bag and dug out the bottle of coke. "This is mine," he muttered, unscrewing the top and taking a long swig, "I still have to make sure you get home okay tonight." Sam's eyes began stinging as he patted the space next to him on the hood. "I have to tell you something that happened... something that I did..." He closed his eyes and she quickly sat next to him as he hitched up his heel on the bumper and draped an elbow over his knee. He stared out over the moonlit valley at the stars hanging over Colorado Springs, the whole scene touched with a haunted air thanks to the moonlight reflecting off the snow which covered everything in sight. He spoke softly, never raising his voice above a whisper. He'd stop whenever a car drove past them on the road far behind them, as if he couldn't take the chance he'd be overheard.

He spoke of Operation Southern Watch, of his transfer to the 19th FS out of Al Dhafra, of flying recon sorties and CAPs below the 32nd parallel, of chasing Iraqi Mirages as they made little taunting dashes through the sanctioned airspace. He spoke of the special ops they'd been asked to fly in support of the various intelligence agencies, dropping some precision guided ordnance on buildings which housed chemical weapons manufacturing equipment, or the leader of some local band of heavily armed thugs. He talked about how getting shot at by AK-47s was a daily thing and how heavier calibre anti-aircraft fire wasn't as rare as it could have been. She noticed how he never actually brought up the topic she knew was the reason he'd brought her here. She stopped him, leaning tightly against him in the cold, her arm looped under his.

"Cameron, I'll accept what you're willing to give," she whispered as his head turned towards her slightly, "I'll be what you need me to be." He looked at her directly then and his eyes nearly stopped her heart. She saw the pain and guilt and anguish and reached her hand up to brush the back of her fingers against his cheek. "I'll take some of your pain, if that's what you need." His head dropped and she ran her fingers through his hair for a few moments until he looked back out over the valley down below them. He told her everything over the next hour, from the mission shadowing the convoy to the conversations he'd had with his father while he decided if he still wanted to be in the Air Force, her eyes glinted when he mentioned talking to her Dad. She finished off the beer, but stayed away from the bourbon. True to his word he drank the coke and made sure she got home, where she hugged him fiercely, her eyes welling up with tears, then pulled him in and made him sleep on her couch.

* * *

Auburn, Kansas, September 2007

Cameron drove north along Washington Street until he got to the intersection with Ninth. He indicated to turn left and looked over towards his destination, the US Post Office building between Gambino's and Slow Bob's Diner. As he parked in the small lot in front, he spotted a familiar face looking out from Slow Bob's distractedly. Most faces in Auburn were familiar to him, though getting less so the more time he spent away from the town, but this face belonged to Darrell Grimes, one of his closest friends from his days at GW High. Cam gave a little smile as he ducked back into his Mustang to reach for the parcel his Mom asked him to mail for her and hoped the queue wouldn't take too long so he could head over to the diner afterwards and catch up.

He'd come to Auburn with a pretty specific purpose and it wasn't really anything to do with visiting his folks. He'd been feeling uneasy since Sam left for Atlantis the previous month, well, tell a lie, he'd been feeling uneasy since before that. Since his high school reunion, especially since his reunion with Amy Vandenburg. The uneasiness _really_ started gnawing at him after the mission to the Asgard home galaxy though, after whatever happened on Odyssey. He could feel it in his gut that something had happened. He didn't know what, but something _important_ happened on that ship. He grimaced and shuffled forward in the line as he held his Mom's package in the crook of his arm. The source of his uneasiness was definitely the understanding he and Amy had come to during that weekend in early May when he'd come back for his reunion. He sighed as he remembered the kisses, remembered how he'd just wanted something he could build on. He'd thought Amy could be the person that would let him forget Sam, but that wasn't fair to either of them and he cursed himself again for the umpteenth time for having ever dared put his old school friend in such a no-win position. Even now, with Sam three million lightyears away, Hell, _especially_ now, she was the one he missed. And he had to tell Amy, he couldn't lead her on anymore. They'd shared phone calls over the weeks and months since, but tellingly, neither of them had actually brought up the subject of a visit, she certainly never took him up on the offer of coming to Colorado Springs. It was his turn at the counter and the elderly African-American lady sitting behind it beamed at him and her eyes crinkled as she took off her spectacles and let them hang around her neck on their silver chain.

"Cameron, my dear boy! So good to see you again." She grinned broadly and patted his hand as he laid the parcel on the scales to be weighed.

"Yes, ma'am, Mrs. Nicholls, it's good to see you too." He smiled and leaned against the counter while she lifted her glasses again and checked her computer.

"Your Momma sendin' some more of her preserve to Emma up in Wisconsin?" she asked jovially and Cam nodded in confirmation. "She tol' me you were made a full Colonel, child, is that so?" She looked up at him over her glasses with a teasing smile. He grinned.

"It is, ma'am. The Air Force has yet to figure me out for the scoundrel and knave that I am. If I keep this up I'll get to be a General, then I can _really_ do some damage." he joked and she guffawed with a slap of her knee.

"My boy, if you become a General the whole world will be in trouble." She laughed and Cam chuckled himself. She looked up at him again with a twinkle in her eye. "Mind you, a good woman could save us all from such a turn of events, hmm? When are you goin' to bring home a lady, sonny?" Cam smiled sheepishly and rubbed at the back of his neck.

"I don't rightly know, ma'am." he replied, but she smiled teasingly as he spoke.

"But there _is_ someone, isn't there?" she asked and he looked down. "I knew it. Don't take too long now, ya hear?" She pressed some keys on her keyboard and the label printer started up. He paid for the postage she read off to him and they both bid their farewells with his promise of seeing her on the Sunday coming when his parents went to church. He stepped out and looked over at Slow Bob's to see Darrell still seated there, so he walked through the adjoining parking lot and stepped inside, surprised his friend had yet to spot him. He slid into the booth opposite Darell and slapped the table in front of him.

"Hey Darrell, how's it goin', man?" he asked with a bright smile, but frowned slightly when Darrell jumped in surprise and nervous alarm.

"Cam? You're here? That's... that's really great! I'm... I'm good, real good, how are you? I heard you made Colonel." Darrell rambled shakily. Cam tilted his head quizzically.

"Yeah, I did. Darrell? You sure you're okay, buddy?" he asked in concern. Darrell looked pale, but was nodding vehemently. "Since you're here maybe you can tell me if you've seen Amy recently? I need to talk... to... her..." he trailed off when he saw Darrell gulping down hard and blanching even further. "Dude, something's not good with you, what's wrong?" Darrell's eyes flicked up over Cam's shoulder and a look of horror descended on him, Cam followed his gaze and looked over to see Amy standing behind him with a similar look of dismay. He blinked as the gears in his head started whirring and clacking away.

"Ca-Cameron? How good to see you." she stuttered and Cam lifted a hand to point at her then at Darrell who looked like he was about to have a stroke. Cam felt the relief washing over him. He smiled unconsciously which only brought confusion into Amy's eyes and he slid out of the booth and motioned her in and sat next to Darrell who still seemed pale.

"It's good to see you too, Amy, how are things?" He smiled and looked between her and Darrell then frowned. "Wait up." He saw them both suddenly tense and he looked around the diner before settling a very stern, unhappy gaze on Darrell. "Darrell, you brought Amy to Slow Bob's? Couldn't you take her somewhere nicer?" he asked tersely and Darrell blinked at him in confused apprehension.

"I invited him." breathed Amy from across the table, so Cam turned the exact same stern, unhappy gaze to her.

"Amy, you brought Darrell to Slow Bob's? Couldn't you take him somewhere nicer?" he asked in the exact same tone as he'd used with Darrell. She laughed nervously until he smiled as well.

"Cameron, I'm sorry I-" he stopped her with a hand over hers.

"It's alright, Amy, really." He looked between them both. "How are you two doing?" he asked and Darrell still looked like he didn't know where he was. "Calm down, man!" Cam gave him a little slap on the cheek and grinned. "I'm not angry, damn it, I'm happy for you both." He turned to look at Amy apologetically and her eyes widened in realisation. "I'm the one who should be apologising to you, Amy. Really." She shook her head and looked at Darrell who hadn't said anything since she'd arrived. He finally managed to croak something out.

"Cam, please don't kill me." he pleaded weakly, Cam frowned at him.

"Are we still on that?" he shook his head with a chuckle. "Darrell, let me borrow Amy for just a minute, okay?" Darrell murmured something unintelligible which Cam took to be consent and looked up at Amy who nodded slowly and began to slide out of the booth. Cam followed her after giving his friend a reassuring smile. They walked out into the late summer afternoon, crossed the street and walked around the side of the City Office to stroll along the playing fields attached to the local school.

"Cameron, I don't know what to say, and I don't understand why you think you should be apologising to me." Amy confessed her confusion while they walked and Cam could only smile at her sidelong before answering.

"The truth is, Amy, I've known who I wanted to spend my life with for a long time now." He looked down and stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. "And I've been scared of admitting it. For various reasons., good and bad." He sighed and looked down at the long grass he was trampling underfoot.

"Obviously it's not me." she breathed with a wry smile and he had to look her in the eyes, she deserved that much.

"No, and that's why I need to apologise to you. I put you in a horrible position, entirely through my own selfishness." he replied and she clasped her hands behind her back as they walked on side-by-side.

"Why are you scared of admitting it to her?" she asked. "Do you work with her? Is this a military thing?" He nodded to her questions.

"How to explain, when the reasons why I can't tell her are the same as why I want to so desperately." He shook his head.

"It's not Vala, is it?" she asked and laughed at his horrified look. "No, I guess not." She turned serious again. "Why do you call it selfishness? You saw me as a convenient way to try to escape?" He looked at her and she frowned at the pain he must have been showing as he nodded. "That's ridiculous. Cameron, I learned something after my marriage, after our reunion." She glanced at him and he nodded for her to continue. "I should have told you how I felt while we were still in high school. Maybe you should have done the same back then too. We missed our moment back then." She tilted her head and stopped, turning to face him. "Do you still have a chance with this woman? If you do then seize it. Do it now." He sighed and looked up into the sky, imagining he was looking towards Pegasus. In reality he had no idea where it was. Maybe he'd ask someone on base to tell him how to find it in the night sky.

"She's very far away right now." he whispered and she sighed softly in return. He looked back down and smiled sadly. "Let's get you back to Darrell. I think he and I will have to have some sort of talk to get past this whole 'scared to look me in the eye' thing." he frowned slightly and she nodded with a slight smile as they began to walk back.

* * *

Port Royale, South Bimini Island, October 2008 (alternate timeline)

Sam sighed as she rested her head on her clasped hands and felt the sun shining down on her back. She closed her eyes behind her sunglasses and flicked her toes through the sand past the edge of the towel on which she was lying. She felt him approaching from under the beach umbrella they'd set up a little ways away. She sighed happily again as a slow smile of anticipation crept across her lips. She listened to the sea birds on the breeze and the splashing of the waves crashing on the sand ahead of her, then she shivered slightly when she felt his shadow over her back.

"Sorry, darlin', this is going to be a bit cold." Cam said as he lay his hand on her shoulder, the distinctly cool sun cream he was slathering into her skin added another quiver to her shoulders and she made a little sound of assent as his hand moved across her upper back, massaging the lotion deep into her skin as his fingers kneaded the muscles underneath at the same time. He brush her hair out of the way with the back of his hand and used his fingers to pass the cream over the nape of her neck, eliciting another little sound of pleasure from her smiling lips. His hand moved down along her spine and he passed the fingers under the strap of her top momentarily before kneading more cream into the skin of her lower back. She had to bite her lip when his lotion-slick fingers ran around her hips and backside and then over the muscles on the back of her thighs and her calves. He came back up to pull one of her arms straight and pass the lotion over it then bent it back under her cheek before moving to her other side to do the other arm. She turned to face his new location when he moved and after releasing her arm he flicked at her cheek, indicating she should raise her head, she did so, rising up onto her elbows and smiling when he kissed her tenderly before using his fingers to pass lotion over her cheeks, nose and forehead. She looked at him as he smiled lovingly at her and swore she'd just fallen in love with him all over again.

"Cam, your smile is a deadly weapon." she murmured and he chuckled, leaning down to kiss her again. He reached around and came back with some lip balm for her to apply, which she did. "Will you do my front later?" she asked teasingly as she laid her head back down on her forearms. He laughed, kissing her hair over her temple.

"I think I can find it in me to do that." he growled into her ear before standing back up. "Where's Daniel?" he asked. She lifted her head up languidly and pointed off into the water where the linguist was floating on his back in the sea, his hands paddling lazily back and forth as he rose up and down on the swells. "Good, good. Looks like he's enjoying himself." She smiled and nodded, letting out another little assenting murmur while bringing her arm back under her cheek.

"Cam..." she began and felt him sitting back down next to her after sounding a little enquiring hum. "If we succeed, if we get in contact with someone who can help us find Ba'al's time machine, if fixing things means a one-way trip to the past like we think it does..." she trailed off as she felt him lie down alongside her perched up on his elbows, and then felt his lips kissing her shoulder. She opened her eyes behind her shades and watched his eyes through his, only able to see a vague outline, but still knowing exactly what look he was giving her. "Could you spend the rest of your life with me in the past like that?" He reached over and flicked her forehead.

"I'd happily spend the rest of my life with you during the Dark Ages, let alone the Forties." he replied. "Hell, I'll only have to wait a little while for rock 'n' roll and in the meantime swing is good too." She chuckled and lifted an arm to caress the back of his neck.

"I can dance to that, you know." she breathed and he smiled slowly. "I can dance to lots of music like that," she pulled him in closer and whispered in his ear, "I'll teach you." He gave her a little nod as she let him ease away. She caressed his cheek. "So you'd even live with me in the Dark Ages, hmm? In Arthur's Court? Be my Lancelot?" she teased and he shook his head with a smile.

"I read a lot of Arthurian legend stuff when we were looking for the Sangreal." he leaned in against her while her fingers tousled his hair. "Lancelot really only shows up in the stories after Chrétien of Troyes' tales. Anyway, he's a homewrecker." She laughed. "Remember when Merlin called me Percival?" She nodded.

"He called me Guinevere." She gave him a small wry smile.

"Mm-hmm. I did a lot of reading on Percival, or Peredur as the Welsh tales called him," he leaned over to kiss her gently, "and his lover, the beauteous Angharad of the Golden Hair." She giggled.

"So I could be Angharad to your Percival?" she asked, he gave her a little shrug. "I'd like that. Was she a queen like Guinivere? Or do I have to get demoted?" he laughed and she joined him.

* * *

Selenis, Luna, September 2010

Sam looked over the several scientists and engineers and the few Marine squad leaders gathered with her behind the Stargate. She indicated the galactic map Selenis was projecting in the translucent matrix over the vista of Jarvis Crater which spilled across the near distance from the crater's rim to their left, to the raised rocky ridges of the crater's central peak and the broken ridge where McNair Crater intersected Jarvis beyond it to the southeast. On the map were several slowly pulsing red circles and a few smaller blue circles around each one. The red circles represented Supergates, while the blue were locations near them which had sourced Selenis' construction materials. She had divided the men and women in front of her into several teams who would scout the locations by jumper, with the aid of the Hammond of course, over the next several weeks.

Selenis' records seemed to indicate the locations were likely sources for the raw materials necessary to manufacture the uprated power conduits and relays for Hypraxia. The teams would investigate each location for any Alteran facilities which may still exist and rank them as viable sources for their efforts. She also added to their list of priorities the sourcing of materials for the construction of Daedalus-class battlecruisers for the IOA member nations. As she mentioned this she spotted Cam coming over with the confirmation, Selenis would now become Earth's frontline shipyard.

"Hammond will ferry you to each location as detailed in Selenis' logs. Some are planetary surface mines, others are asteroid belt facilities," she glanced at the map for a moment, "one is even an interstellar dust cloud, intriguingly." She paused momentarily at the thought. "Each team is to stay in contact with Hammond regularly, let's try not to force Colonel Jeffords to come to anyone's rescue, alright, she'll have a lot of coordination to take care of as it is?" She smiled as each of the Marines nodded in amusement. "Selenis says that none of these systems have Stargates of their own, they were specially chosen by the Ancients for this reason. It is likely few, if any of them, have seen any activity since the Ancients left." She pointed at the map once more. "These aren't areas of the galaxy which saw a lot of Goa'uld activity, since they have no habitable planets." She turned back to the gathered scientists specifically. "If we're lucky the Alteran facilities and assets will be in low power stand-by mode or something similar. These are preliminary recon missions, but you will take a small stock of Alteran power cells which should be compatible with these facilities. Investigate them at your discretion if they're intact. Any questions?" She waited a beat. "Thank you, ladies and gentlemen." She dismissed the teams so they could prepare to board the Hammond waiting in the hangar deck below them. Cam sidled up to her and kissed her softly while perusing the tablet computer he held.

"So we're going to be hosting some very anxious ship-builders soon, I take it? Wondering if their jobs are on the line." she jibed and he chuckled ruefully with a nod.

"Looks like the Royal Navy is bringing one of its survey vessels in for refit and recommissioning it under a new name." he said. She tilted her head and crossed her arms at the non-sequitur until she saw the glint in his eyes and her mouth gaped open. She shook her head vehemently and grabbed at his arm with her hands.

"No, Cam! You can't do this to me!" she cried and he gave her an innocent look.

"You want me to call up the Ministry of Defense of Her Royal Britannic Majesty's Government and tell them they'll have to think up a new name for their brand new spaceship?" His smile had her cringing, but she nodded emphatically, moving her hands to his chest.

"Yes! Anything to get me out of the conversation that I will surely have to have with General O'Neill when he finds out." she pleaded with him desperately, but he shook his head sadly with a soft kiss on her lips.

"Sorry, sweetness, it's a done deal." He chuckled as her head fell against his chest in dejection. "~Selenis, if you could please mark up bays for the simultaneous construction of three BC-304 battlecruisers as per the specs I gave you last month.~" The specs included ZPM harnesses and concomitant Potentia to go with them, Asgard Sensors, Transporters, Shields and Plasma beams, but not an Asgard Core, Cloak or Constructor.

"~Of course, Colonel Mitchell.~" confirmed the AI happily. "~How should I identify the new vessels?~"

"~The Condorcet, will be slated for the French. The Tsiolkovsky, for our Russian friends,~" Sam's hands tightened on the front of his BDUs, "~and HMS Enterprise, for our allies, Great Britain.~" Sam's head thumped softly against his sternum several times and he reached a hand around her back to pull her in closely.

"It's not fair, it's not fair, it's not fair..." she whispered barely audibly into his neck.

"~Simultaneous construction is faster, but less energy efficient. Once I have the necessary raw materials the construction of all three battlecruisers will be scheduled for full completion within 45.294 Terran days.~ Selenis burbled and Sam had to look up at that.

"~Selenis, you can build _three_ BC-304s in six weeks?~" she asked in surprise.

"~They are very small, Dr. Carter.~" Selenis explained and Cam laughed, Sam had to hide her grin against his chest. "~If I had the luxury of building them sequentially as my sole construction project, I could build one in 33.682 Terran days and use only half the amount of power per vessel.~"

"~Also, I hope you don't mind,~" Cam paused as he realised what he just said and Sam looked up to grin at him. He glared and poked her, "~but your next four Galadia-class ships starting with Kastia will also be assigned among the IOA signatories. Please, could you arrange to build them all at once.~"

"~Certainly, Colonel Mitchell, Kastia, Durende, Jadra and Ialoderus are now scheduled for parallel construction once the Tau'ri vessels have been completed.~" Selenis acknowledged. "~Please be advised this will alter the construction time and power expenditure significantly. I project it will take 461.821 Terran days while using 169% of the typical power expenditure per vessel.~" Cam winced, but nodded.

"~We figured as much, Selenis, thank you.~" he replied, and Sam slipped her arms around his waist, looking out at the lunar surface as her head rested on his shoulder. "Well if you were worried about the IOA getting their hands on an Alteran fleet at least you don't have to worry about it for eighteen months." She closed her eyes with a rueful smile and nodded slightly. "You looking forward to heading off to Camelot once Galadia is ready?" She pulled back and looked at him with a nod.

"Hmm. I miss them, God help me, but I do." She smiled as Cam chuckled. "Vala especially, ~no offense, Selenis, but you're still not much for girl talk.~" she said while looking up towards Command and Cam laughed out loud.

"~None taken, Dr. Carter, I miss Vala too.~" burbled the computer. Cam had to cover his eyes with his hands as his shoulders shuddered with silent laughter.

"~As do I.~" came Galadia's contralto over their comms. Sam had to clasp her hands around Cam's head and pull him against her shoulder as his face was going distinctly red.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 5**

Michie Stadium, West Point, November 1989

Cam took the snap and stepped back quickly. He was about to turn to hand off to the blue jerseyed running back coming up behind him when he saw his weak side guard crumple to the side allowing one of the Army linebackers to sweep through the hole and head straight for him. He kept on turning, but faked the hand off to his confused rusher and stepped aside in a scrambling spin to look upfield. The running back caught on quickly and sped off the other way as the linebacker caught sight of him. Air Force had just received the kick off and rushed six plays to the Army twenty-four yard line and Cam was looking to put early points on the board against the current holders of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. He had no target to aim at ahead of him, but a quick glance revealed the gap left behind by the linebacker who'd rushed him and he tucked the ball under his arm and ran for it.

He burst through the line of scrimmage, slipping past the arm thrown at him by a defensive tackle, a glance told him the strong safety had drifted away to cover his tight end and would not be able to catch him. Which left the free safety over to his left further up the field. His eyes locked on to the white jerseyed back unerringly angling in towards him. He shifted his hips and angled away, it would bring him closer to the now recovering strong safety and the strong side cornerback, but he had to chance it. As he saw the free safety tense in preparation for the tackle he hitched his stride and flexed his knees, digging into the unforgiving astroturf as much as possible and dropping his shoulder into a spin. It allowed him to side-step the defensive back's lunge. He stumbled against the Army man's hip and nearly fell before recovering and tucking the ball in tightly against his chest once more. He pumped his arms and legs for the end zone and turned his head to the right to try and spot the strong safety he knew was coming for him. Two yards away he reached out his arms and leapt as his time ran out and the defensive back ploughed into his side. Momentum being the harsh mistress she is, both players landed on the turf as Cam's extended hands broke the plane of the end zone with the ball and they slid further in. Cam dropped his head to the ground to catch his breath while the umpire off in the distance raised both arms straight up into the air and blew his whistle.

His ears which had only been filled with the pumping of his heart, the grunts of exertion from the players around him and the sickening crunch of tackles, slowly took in the uproar of the thousands of voices clamouring just ahead of him in the stands. He managed to lift his head when one of his linemen grabbed the Army man from atop him and man-handled him away as another, it was Bryce, lifted Cam bodily by the jersey to his feet and slapped at the back of his helmet over and over. Cam looked at the sea of Air Force cadets which had made the trip to New York to cheer them on and spotted a beaming smile high up in the stands. He could always find her. His senses just homed in until she was the only thing he could see. He raised the ball in his hand over his head and saw her cheering and clapping her hands above her blond locks while everyone around her was jumping up and down. He staggered forwards slightly as one of his teammates jumped onto his back to pump a fist at the crowd as well and the rest surrounded them as they moved off to the sidelines after Cam tossed the ball to the umpire. Air Force were on their way.

* * *

Air Force Academy, November 1989

By Sunday evening they were back in Colorado Springs as winners; of the game, with a score of 29-3; and of the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, which they would likely receive in a small ceremony at the White House sometime in May, then bring back to display in a case at the Cadet Fieldhouse. The entire campus was buzzing after they'd retaken the trophy from the Black Knights. There were very few things an Air Force cadet liked more than to make the Army-Navy game in December irrelevant. Also, as winners of the CiC Trophy, Air Force was now at least guaranteed a bowl game in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl.

Cam was on his way to one of the labs in Fairchild Hall. _Someone_ was late for their celebratory get-together. He shook his head slightly as he ducked his head into a lab to see Sam sitting on a stool as she looked at a blackboard filled with very complicated-looking equations. She sat with an arm across her chest under her breasts and the elbow of the other resting on a cupped hand while she flicked a stick of chalk against her cheek in thought. He walked in and came to stand beside her to look over the equations himself with his hands on his hips. He recognised very small parts of it from his classes. Some flavour of high energy physics. She still hadn't noticed him.

"Hunh. So you're blowing us off for this?" he asked with a sidelong glance at Sam as she yelped in surprise and stumbled off her stool. He reacted quickly and got an arm around her waist to keep her from falling down to the floor. He pulled her back up to get her feet under her as she steadied herself with her hands on his shoulders. He pulled away from her very slowly as she looked up at him with a flush of embarrassment.

"Holy Hannah, Cam, where'd you come from all of a sudden?" she muttered in a tremulous voice while looking down at her feet. Cam chuckled and stepped back to allow her some breathing room. He reached up a hand to wipe the chalk dust away from her cheek as she looked up again, her eyes turbulent.

"Mitchell Hall," he breathed softly as his thumb stilled momentarily against her skin before resuming its chalk clearing duties, "where you're supposed to be." he chided her gently with a small smile. She looked down again and raised a hand to her cheek to muss away the chalk marks. Cam had really only been spreading the dust around anyway.

"I'm really sorry, Cameron, I just lost track of time." She looked up at the board again while Cam kept his gaze on her features. "I got a special assignment from the office of a General West?" She looked at him quizzically, asking if he'd ever heard the name, he shook his head. "Seems he's the head of some research division at the Pentagon, looking at some really fascinating things." she breathed the last as her eyes returned to the board, he followed her gaze at last. She resumed her earlier pose, an arm across her chest and an elbow cupped in a hand while this time flicking her cheek with a finger. "Wormholes." Cam laughed.

"Wormholes? Sam, I thought _I_ was the sci-fi nerd here." he jibed and she glared at him.

"I like sci-fi too. I just hate it when they mess up the science. Even the really easy stuff!" she groused adorably and he smiled. He knocked the side of her head gently.

"Haven't I told you to just let that go." he murmured. "Enjoy it for what it is." She glowered at him until he just laughed and turned to look at the equations. "Well, out with it. Something about this thing has you all up in knots. What is it?" He looked back at her and saw her blow air from her pursed lips setting her fringe aflutter.

"You wouldn't understand, Cam. No offense, but this is highly specialised, highly speculative, highly theoretical high energy physics. You don't have the ground work necessary to understand it. I _barely_ do." she grumbled and he just shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't need to understand it so you can vent at me." he replied and she looked at him with a slight smile before looking down. "So come on, what is it about this monster that has you so edgy."

"Well, in essence, I can't make these equations work without violating some very important aspects of what we know about the physical universe." she began as Cam crossed his arms over his chest. "A wormhole connects two points in space through a higher dimension with properties which can essentially negate the distance between the two points in physical space." She picked up a piece of paper and a pencil and drew two points on it and labelled them A and B. "Simple geometry tells us the shortest distance between these two points is the straight line AB." She bridged the gap between the two points with a neat line. "However, space is far more complex than that. The structure of it bends and warps due to the presence of mass." She turned the paper over and drew a little star and two concentric rings around it, each sporting a shaded circle over the top positioned on opposite sides of the star. She labelled the two circles A and B. "For instance, the 'straightest line' or 'path of least resistance' between A and B in this case-" Cam interrupted her tracing a line with his finger in a wide curve around the star from one circle to the other following an arc between the two concentric rings.

"An orbital transfer vector, either a Hohmann transfer or a bi-elliptical transfer." He smiled as she looked up at him sheepishly.

"Right, I forget you want to be an astronaut too, and that you're not as dumb as you like to pretend you are." She grinned at his glare. "Anyway, that deals with the presence of masses in physical space, but space is still more complex than that." She picked up another piece of paper and again drew two dots on opposite ends of it, labelling them once more as A and B. "Imagine if you will," she began in her best Rod Serling impression, "if we could bend time and space to our will and access the higher dimensions of the infinite cosmos." She poked point A with the tip of her pencil and folded the piece of paper over to poke the other end of the sheet on the underside of point B. She looked up at Cam with a smile as she held up her little visual aid. "The shortest route between two points in physical space, is always a wormhole cutting through subspace." He smiled and nodded.

"Right, but that's not what you're having a problem with." he concluded and she shook her head.

"No, everything I can figure out from these equations tells me wormholes are _not_ just theoretical, but I can't see how they could ever be maintained for more than an instant." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly. "To do so requires knowledge of both points in space to be known at both ends, simultaneously _and_ continuously since everything in the universe is constantly in motion, but _this_," she pointed at an equation in the top left corner, "means a wormhole is a one-way conduit only. Travel is possible only in one direction."

"Like a gravity fed water system. Water can only ever flow downhill." Cam murmured and Sam beamed at him.

"Exactly!" She picked up a broken piece of chalk from the floor where she'd dropped it and drew two U shapes with their open ends facing away from each other and arrows travelling down between them. "Since travel is unidirectional I can't see how a wormhole could ever be kept open considering the requirements to maintain the connection between two constantly shifting points in space."

"Can't you just look through it? You know, like shining a light into the end of the pipe to see through to the other end. If it connects the points physically-" Cam's thought was almost immediately interrupted.

"Cam, the physics of this are very complex, but..." Sam's admonishment trailed off almost as soon as she began as her eyebrows lifted high on her forehead. Her mouth opened slightly and her lips came together as if she were silently forming words, she blinked rapidly as she glanced at the board in amazement. "Cam... how did..." She looked at him astonished. He frowned at her in confusion until she threw her arms around him and he nearly fell backwards in surprise, backing up against the desk behind him as she jumped up and down for a second then let him go to grab the board eraser and wipe clean one of the lower corners. "Fifteen minutes, Cam! Give me a quarter of an hour and I will buy you non-alcoholic drinks all night!" He scoffed at her reminder that he was still underage, then again, so was she until the New Year. She began writing away furiously, muttering to herself. "Matter/particle transfer is unidirectional, but maybe energy/wave transfer is bidirectional..." Cam chuckled and went to grab another stool and set it next to hers. He sat down to watch her work.

* * *

Muranis, Pensecti 1421 AL (Lantean years after Exodus)

Sam looked around the dimly lit interior of the puddle jumper rear compartment, the details of the compartment were far too accurate, but at the same time, it was unlike any puddle jumper she'd travelled in. Things just weren't arranged as they should be. It felt... wrong. She frowned and ran a hand through her hair, wondering what the hell this dream was about.

"Sam?" his voice caused her to whirl about and she gasped at the sight of him. Cameron looked just as he did in real life, well, maybe a little idealised, but not that much, he wore his black off-world base BDUs and scrubbed his hair with a hand as he looked at her with a puzzled look. "What's going on? This doesn't feel like a dream." Her eyes widened and she walked over to him and gave him a little push. "Oh, don't let's start that again." He chuckled and caressed her cheek gently. It really was Cam!

"Cam," she grabbed his hand on her cheek and pressed it to her skin, it felt warm and real, "I don't know what's going on, I _know_ this is a dream, but..." she faltered, looking around them. "I just don't know." She gravitated towards him and smiled when he slipped his hand from her cheek to slide it around her waist at her lower back.

He looked her up and down. "You look good." She followed his gaze, taking in the soft fabrics and billowing folds of the loose top and skirt she was wearing. She blushed softly with a small smile when she looked back up at him.

"I suppose this is just how I usually see myself." she replied and he nodded slightly.

"It's really nice, though I have to admit I liked the way you filled out your Atlantis jump- Hey!" he cried in surprise and she frowned slightly in confusion as he looked her up and down again. She followed his gaze and gasped slightly, her eyes widening.

"What did you... How did you do that?" she asked as she patted down the jumpsuit she was now wearing, the zipper of her top hitched up to just below her breasts, open to show the black v-neck underneath. She noticed her hair was no longer spilling down over her shoulders and ran her hands over it, sure enough it was now braided and twirled at the back. "Cam!" He just lifted his eyebrows and raised his hands up.

"I didn't do anything, sweetheart, you did that yourself." He smirked and nodded knowingly and she glared at him. She looked over his BDUs and growled to herself in frustration. His smirk became insufferable as he just pulled slightly on his cuffs. "I know. They sure are stylish, right?" She reached across and pulled on his cheek. "Ow ow ow, stop, baby." He enveloped her in his arms with a chuckle and she sighed as she melted into his embrace. "You look beautiful to me in anything," he trilled before leaning in further to whisper in her ear, "but I promise to keep my mouth shut so you don't get any other ideas." He laughed as she punched his ribs. They quieted and she turned around in his arms as they felt the jumper touch down. They must have been moving this whole time. They froze when the door to the forward compartment slid open.

"~Jenavia, I need you and Praetrio Larensera to make sure this repository is severed from the rest of the facility.~" ordered the man who came through the door first. Sam and Cam both gasped then cringed when Ilemus walked right through them to stand by one of the storage cabinets by the rear doors.

"Crap, a dream _and_ we're out of phase."Cam muttered and Sam raised her hand to cup his cheek.

"No, love, out of phase _because_ it's a dream. We're not really here. Wherever here is." Sam explained while Cam manoeuvred them to the side of the rear compartment. She smiled, knowing it always creeped him out when someone walked through him when they were out of phase.

A woman with dark brown, wavy hair spilling down her back passed them by and accepted something from Ilemus, putting it over her head. When she turned around they saw the top half of her face, from nose to hairline, covered by a black glossy curved surface which wrapped around her ear and curled into a line to the corner of her mouth. She touched the side of it and it became like a dark shimmering veil which only showed a ghostly outline of her features above her lips.

"~I'll go with Praediae Artros to check the control room.~" he added and she nodded her affirmation. Two more Alterans joined them from the front compartment, a man with a stern mien and a woman with straight, angular features, they wore silver-black uniforms padded along the shoulders, chest and abdomen. Soldiers or guards. They both reached over their heads and pulled forward dark glossy hoods which locked into place down to their mouths and similarly activated to reveal only the shimmering ghostly outline of eyes and nose and cheek bones. Jenavia filled a strapped satchel with various tools and instruments as the female soldier stepped forward. She offered to take the satchel, but stepped aside when a small smile and a slight discouraging headshake was given to her. She and Artros then turned to look at one another and touched their hands to their wrists, pulling away something that looked like a short baton with an angled handle from a small fissure of light which looked very familiar to Sam. She gasped in realisation. Ilemus donned his own visor and their view turned chaotic, monochromatic and grainy. White and light grey dominated their view until Ilemus did something by the wall and everything became much darker, but far easier to distinguish. Some sort of nightvision. Sam turned to Cam and was surprised to see he looked exactly the same to her as he had a moment before. She shook her head when she realised this was Ilemus' memory, of which they were not a part.

"We're seeing what Ilemus sees." Cam murmured and she nodded. "This is from the Archive isn't it?" She nodded again with a soft smile for him. "Partners in every way." He smiled at her and reached down to take her hand as they walked towards where the Alterans were about to open the rear hatch. They each coughed slightly when the hatch opened, Ilemus and Jenavia more than the two soldiers, but that seemed to be the limit of their discomfort with what must have been very stale air. The soldiers led the way through the space, defined in their vision by strobed lines and arcs outlining the edges of wall features and the doorway in the distance. "A hangar, like in Selenis' Archive repository." Sam looked around and had to agree, except for one minor detail.

"Two sets of bay doors, one at either end." she pointed out and he nodded. They followed the Alterans as they made their way cautiously towards the smaller door in the corner of the space. They moved silently, though with no apparent concern. They did not expect any trouble it seemed. The door slid open slowly at their approach much as the one at Selenis' archive had for Cameron. They moved into a control room with a wide concave arc of windows at its far end. Beyond those windows the strobing and arcing of the nightvision became harsh and grating. Sam squinted at it and moved forward, along with Cameron, to the curving bank of consoles as Ilemus conferred briefly with Jenavia and the soldiers checked the small set of living quarters off to the side. Sam looked out over what she realised was the crystal spire matrix room of the facility. The angles and facets of each individual crystal branch and tine climbing up the spires, were flickering and parallaxing in her vision as what little light available to the nightvision sensors refracted through the lattices. Jenavia and Larensera then left through another door while Ilemus and Artros came over to the consoles.

"~You're sure we will be able to decouple Muranis from the rest of the facility without any interference once we get to the main core chamber?~" Artros asked in a gruff voice while Ilemus placed a small device on a console which brought it to life, allowing him to cycle through various information screens.

"~Yes, we confirmed he was in low power mode from the outside. The AIs cannot self-restore from that state without external intervention. The manual decouple is entirely mechanical in nature and will function with our portable generators.~" He waved at the device he'd placed on the console. "~After that we introduce the attack programs directly into his processing cortex matrix and execute them while in low power mode, then wipe the database completely so that it may be reinitialised from the repository in a hundred millennia when Muranis is clear.~" He nodded to the crystal spires beyond the windows. "~After we've set that in motion it will be a matter of course to verify the location of the Key.~" Sam's ears perked up as Ilemus finished.

"~And what of Viridia? If it has been compromised as- ~" Artros was interrupted by Ilemus' vehement headshake.

"~There is no chance of that.~" Ilemus declared matter-of-factly. "~The vessels' AIs are designed to resist attack, they sever communications completely, burning out relays if necessary, and enter a defensive mode to retreat or retaliate against physical assaults. Viridia will still be in the hangar, as she will have been unable to leave, but she will not be compromised.~" Artros seemed unconvinced and grunted softly.

"~Ilemus, we have checked the main trunk line and it has already been severed with a connection splicer. It will be the work of moments to reattach it when necessary.~" came Jenavia's soft voice over the comm and Ilemus nodded before looking down at the console before him.

"~Very good, Jenavia, I can confirm that the attack programs have successfully eradicated all instances of the worm from the repository.~" He looked at Artros significantly. "~We should be clear to proceed into the main facility.~" Artros watched him for a long moment before nodding.

"~I agree. Let us proceed with the mission.~" the soldier intoned gravely. Sam looked at Cam for a moment and he nodded, if they were to find Muranis' part of the Clava Thessara Infinitas, then Muranis itself may be a likely place to find it.

* * *

Selenis, Luna, September 2010

Sam's eyes flew open and she lifted up her left wrist. The clasp was glowing a very faint blue in the darkness of their quarters. Cam's hand came up and entwined its fingers with hers and she turned her head to look at him lying next to her.

"I wasn't imagining you there then." he said lightly and she smiled with a shake of her head. He turned onto his side and the fingers of his other hand brushed against her cheek. "If Daniel didn't hate us already because of these things, he will now. You do realise that, right?" Sam laughed and he leaned forward to kiss her gently.

"Cameron, we need to go there. If a piece of the Key is there we have to get it." She smiled when he laid his head on her pillow in front of hers. "We'll need to talk to Daniel about this too."

"I know, Galadia's repairs and Asgard tech refit are just waiting for my sign off. I'm going to do that," he looked at the clasp on his hand which was indicating the time to be the very early hours of the morning, "in a few hours. We'll use tomorrow to take care of a few things, run some errands..." She quirked an eyebrow, but he just smiled in return. "Let's get some more sleep." She sighed, knowing he was up to something, but also that she'd not get any more out of him. She turned to prop herself up on her elbow and rested her hand on his chest as he laid back, drawing lazy circles with her index finger against his skin. He brought his own hand up and drew his finger down the length of her nose and over her lips, then brushed the back of his knuckle down her throat. She moved forward and kissed his neck, draping herself over him, letting his arm snake under her and around her back.

Later that morning after waking again, bathing and eating, they walked the short distance from the transporter to the medical lab they'd designated as a primary infirmary. Cam watched her seriously and she rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb as she gave him an enquiring look.

"So you've noticed no side-effects? You're sure?" he asked and she gave him a reassuring smile. He frowned slightly until she actually voiced it.

"I haven't noticed anything, Cameron. Honest. Anyway, that's why we're going to see Dr. Camberley. For the results of the daily scans she's been taking as we monitored the serum." He nodded and drew his lips tight. "Two courses of the serum with a week off after each time. Honestly, I don't feel any different." They both looked up as Selenis spoke to them.

"~I have noticed that while on the serum your metabolism is approximately eight percent higher than my previous observations, and the week after the effects wear off it is reduced by approximately five percent.~" Sam's brow creased in confusion and she glanced at Cameron who just shrugged.

"~I haven't noticed any real shift in my weight over the last month.~" she said tightly while Cam gave her hand a squeeze.

"~There has been no significant change, your physical exercise regimen is very well maintained, Dr. Carter.~" Sam looked a bit proud of the AI's assessment.

"~My diet then? I've been eating more while on the serum and less while off it?~" Sam asked and the computer burbled a confirmation. "Well that's definitely something Carson and Jennifer will want to know." They walked in to the infirmary and Sam drifted from Cam's side as she approached the Air Force captain standing by the holographic display, speaking with a nurse. Dr. Victoria Camberley turned around and smiled as she saw them.

"Dr. Carter, right on time. Nice to see you too, Colonel." She nodded to Cam as he smiled and perched himself on a bed out of the way. It was never necessary for him to come with Sam, but she liked that he did.

"Dr. Camberley, Selenis has mentioned she's noticed my metabolic rate has fluctuated while I've been trialling the serum. Have your tests noticed the same trends?" Sam asked as the dark-haired woman approached and began running a routine examination.

"Elevated metabolism while on the serum, reduced while off? Yes they have. It's not a concern so far. It may actually indicate that a higher metabolism is due to having the gene functioning normally." she explained and Sam nodded. "Obviously two cycles of the tests can't be called indicative of much. Though word I've received through the SGC is that Ms. Cyr has responded favourably to the ATA gene therapy as you did; her expression sites seem well developed, but the effects are dampened. She's agreed to trial the serum also." The doctor's green eyes looked up at Sam's reassuringly. "If her results corroborate yours it will be interesting to say the least." She finished taking basic tests then drew another blood sample with the aid of a nurse. "For now, I have no objection to you taking a third course of the serum." Cam chuckled and both women turned to him.

"Oh, Doc, you better get your equipment out, Sam's itchin' to take Galadia for a spin." He grinned at Sam's embarrassed look and Dr. Camberley smiled knowingly.

* * *

Selenis, Luna, September 2010

Cam smiled at Sam's skeptical look. She looked so adorable. He pulled at her elbow towards the transparent matrix behind the 'gate which currently displayed a large view of the hangar deck as Galadia hovered in the center of the vast space.

"You have to ask yourself, Sam. Do you trust me?" he tried to keep his face serious, but the tilt of her head and the way she drew her lips together had him laughing.

"Ass. You know I trust you. I'm just not sure how much I trust the memories you've recovered from our time on Odyssey." She looked at the view of the Alteran battleship. "Are you sure you've interfaced everything properly?" He scoffed and took her hand in his before pressing down on his comm.

"~Galadia, two to beam up, or down as the case may be.~" A white light shimmered over them both and he felt a slight tug. When he could see again they were on the familiar bridge of Galadia. "How about that, huh?" he cried with a grin. She sighed and smiled at him with an indulgent tilt of her head.

"~Galadia, how are your diagnostics on the new Asgard systems?~" she asked.

"~Neutrino-Ion Power Cores, fully operational. Asgard Core, fully operational. Asgard Cloak, fully operational. Asgard Transporter Beams, fully operational. Asgard Constructor, fully operational.~" intoned Galadia. Sam's eyes had widened in disbelief halfway through the AI's recitation.

"You put a cloak on Galadia?" she asked incredulously and Cam grinned, nodding emphatically. "Does it work?" He scoffed at her.

"~Galadia, if you would be so kind,~" he crossed his arms and smiled, "~prove to Dr. Carter that you can cloak.~" A hologram of Galadia as seen from Selenis' hangar deck cameras appeared beside them.

"~Engaging cloak, Colonel Mitchell.~" came the response in Galadia's feminine tone. The ship in the holographic display shimmered and vanished from sight.

"~Selenis, can you detect us?~" Sam asked with a touch on her comm.

"~I cannot, Dr. Carter. Galadia has disappeared from my sensors and scanners. I am also having trouble pinpointing the source of your comm signal.~" Selenis replied. Sam blinked and smiled. Cam raised his arms above his head and struck a pose. She gave him a little clap. Galadia decloaked and appeared once more in the holographic display until it winked out.

"~We're taking a little trip, Selenis, kindly open up the hangar bay.~" He walked over to the control chair and sat down, Sam quirked her eyebrow and came to stand by his side.

"~Of course, Colonel Mitchell.~" Selenis replied. He leaned back and the chair activated, filling his mind with the entirety of Selenis and the space above it. Filling him with the power and intent of Galadia. He 'rose' up from the depths of Selenis out into the starlight, he flexed his arms and 'flew', Galadia surged in response, leaping forward and away from Lunar orbit on the short burst to Earth. He saw his blue-green homeworld peek over the ridge of the highlands on the borders between the Moon's far side and near side. He heard Sam's soft intake of breath from beside him as the glossy shimmer of Earth's atmosphere crested over the rocky escarpments and crevices.

"So beautiful." she breathed unconsciously and he smiled softly as he swiftly broke the bonds of Luna's pull on his way to fall into Terra's gravity well. The flight was short, Galadia was orders of magnitude faster than the puddle jumper he'd last made the trip in, but the experience was completely different. He felt the pull of Earth's mass as a pressure on his nerve endings, the subtle strumming of the Van Allen belts as a prickling in his skin. Once he settled into High Earth Orbit, he quickly shifted his focus to searching the ground down below. "What are we doing here, Cam?" Sam asked and he chuckled softly without opening his eyes. At that moment, his 'eyes' were roving along the ground, homing in on a location he knew well. He found what he was looking for then looked a little deeper, through the mass and solidity to what was beneath.

'~Do you see that, Galadia?~' he asked the AI in his thoughts as he circled his 'hands' over his quarry. The ship signalled an assent and he smiled, sitting up and opening his eyes. He looked at Sam with a sparkling gaze. "We're here to pick something up." He stood and took Sam's hand as she looked at him oddly, but followed him to the transporter anyway. They transitioned into the flight bay and he walked her out to the middle of the deck and positioned her beside him. She squeezed his hand to get his attention and he just smiled at her. "~Right there, Galadia. Energise.~" he ordered as he pointed before them to an empty jumper slot. A white shimmer started to the thrum of the Asgard beam and revealed a mass hidden under a glossy blue cover. Sam gasped and brought her hands up to her mouth.

"Cam! No! What are you doing?" She rushed forward and pulled the blue cover aside from a corner revealing the silver curves and chrome finish of one of the headlights on her 1971 Volvo P1800E. He walked over and put a hand on her lower back as the other ran over the slightly dusty bodywork. She froze as he touched the silver-painted metal and he pulled her in against him. "She's my baby, Cam." she breathed in a slightly panicky voice. He shook his head slightly, it seemed Selenis and Galadia weren't the only machines Sam anthropomorphised, she had previous form.

"And she'll be purring like a kitten when I'm done, looking just as she did when she left the showroom. I promise, darlin'." He smiled reassuringly at her. "You said she hasn't run properly for years, no matter what you looked at or tried to fix, I'll do something about that." She looked at him with her eyes half-filled with fear and half-filled with hope. She shook her head, however.

"Cam, you don't understand. She's the first car I ever bought! I paid for her with my own money. I saved for three years while I worked part-time at the Science Library." She looked down at the car and ran her hand over the fairing. "She was my present to myself after I defended my doctoral thesis." She looked at him again, her lower lip trembling slightly. "I drove her all the way from Cambridge to Colorado Springs when I went to the Academy, Cameron. Please, don't hurt my baby." He turned her to face him and placed both his hands on her shoulders and she slumped slightly in his grasp.

"I know, sweetness, we used to tool around Colorado Springs in her when we'd go grocery shopping, remember?" He ducked his head to catch her eyes until she looked up at him. "I will take very good care of her." She glanced down at the silver finish around the fender she had revealed and finally nodded. Reaching across she pulled the cover back over the corner of the car and smoothed it down lovingly. She allowed Cam to pull her in and rested her shoulder against his chest as he kissed the hair over her ear. "~Galadia, let's take our precious cargo back to Selenis.~"

"~Of course, Colonel Mitchell.~" Galadia replied. "~I will make sure the journey is very smooth, Dr. Carter.~" the AI intoned soothingly and Cam grinned. Sam covered her mouth and nodded slightly, her eyes closed.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 6**

Stargate Command, June 2005

Sam looked into her father's face as he leaned back against the bed in the infirmary, the tears had never been far from her eyes since he'd told her. He gazed back at her, his eyes filled with fatherly indulgence, as if he weren't about to die sometime in the next few hours. She held his hand in hers, the back of it pressed against her heart, she looked down at his fingers closed around her hand.

"I can't believe there's nothing they can do." she breathed, shaking her head slightly as she looked back up to meet his eyes. "They can remove a Goa'uld. In the last few years you've almost perfected the process of saving the host." Jacob nodded his head slightly before trying to explain once more.

"That process instantly kills the symbiote before it releases toxins." he breathed weakly as Sam looked down once more. "It's too late for that, Sam. I'm sorry. I hate to do this to you," he waited for her to meet his gaze once more "but I should have been dead four years ago. Since then, I've been all over the galaxy. I've done things most men never dream of." Sam gave a small rueful smile as she stroked the back of his hand with her thumb.

"I've heard that before." she whispered almost under her breath and he gave her a look. He narrowed his eyes slightly before lifting his eyebrows and nodding towards her.

"I just want to know you're gonna be happy." He watched as she blinked in surprise, unsure why he couldn't see that she was. She was getting married, to a very good man.

"I am." she declared, trying to show him how sure she was. He drew his lips together slightly and looked at her sternly.

"Don't let rules stand in your way." It was practically an order. She shook her head in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" she asked and he glanced away for a moment before looking back at her.

"You joined the Air Force because of me." he said weakly, his brow tightening. She smiled softly, still unsure what he was getting at.

"I love my job." she whispered. She wouldn't give it up for anything, she may have been drawn to the Air Force in an attempt to understand her father more, but she always had her own plans, her own ambitions, she'd accomplished many of them. He nodded and reached up to cup her cheek in his hand, running his fingers over the skin lightly.

"You can still have everything you want." he told her. She didn't know what he was talking about. Unless he meant... no, he couldn't mean that. She pushed away the thoughts of Jack which flitted through her mind.

"I do, Dad." she breathed and he sighed, looking at her indulgently. She took his hand from her cheek and held it in both of hers as she gave him a little nod. "Really." She rested her chin on his hand, tracing her thumb over the back of it. He sighed gently and looked away for a moment before turning back to look at her.

"Sammie, I need to make some calls, could you get them to bring me a phone, please?" he asked and she nodded. He must want to call Mark to say good-bye. She kissed the back of his hand and laid it back down on his stomach and got up to go talk to a nurse.

* * *

Petersen AFB Medical Center, June 2005

Cam watched impatiently as the doctor made another note in her little booklet before picking up his leg once more. Sometimes he thought she was delaying signing off on his fitness report just so she could keep torturing him. Her signature was the last thing he needed before he could get his transfer to the SGC finalised and take his shot at joining SG-1 alongside Sam. He gritted his teeth in frustration, ninety percent of the work was done, just the last _ninety_ percent to go it seemed.

"Lt. Colonel Mitchell, please contact the front desk on extension 1000. Lt. Colonel Mitchell, please contact the front desk on extension 1000." Cameron looked up at the tannoy speaker in the physical therapy room and glanced over at the doctor man-handling his ankle in a decidedly rough manner. She shrugged and put his leg down, allowing him to walk _unaided_, he made sure she could see that with a glare over his shoulder as he skipped up and down theatrically much to her amusement, over to the desk in the corner. He picked up the phone and dialled the extension. "Hello, Petersen Air Force Base Medical Center, how may I help you?" came the perky female voice which had recently just sounded glumly from the tannoy.

"This is Lt. Colonel Mitchell, you just paged me?" he asked sitting down in the small seat against the wall next to the desk. He eyed his physiotherapist warily, she was definitely up to something as she huddled over her black bag over there.

"Yes, sir, we have an outside call for you, Colonel, please hold." her voice was replaced by several clicks and bumps of the computerised telephone system until he heard someone else on the line.

"Cameron? Is that you?" Cam blinked when he heard the voice, unsure why he was getting a call from him.

"Yes, sir, General Carter." he replied, automatically sitting up straighter as he spoke.

"At ease, son." Jacob joked over the line, obviously knowing how Cam would react. Cam closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, but let his shoulders slump slightly nevertheless. "I'm calling to give you some bad news, Cam-"

"Is Sam okay, sir?" Cam interrupted fiercely, nearly getting to his feet before Jacob replied.

"Uh, yes, well, no... let me finish, will you!" Cam winced at the command in the voice of his superior officer, which he now noticed sounded very weak, and offered a small apology as he sat back down. "Sam's fine. _I'm_ not." Cam blinked several times as Jacob sighed deeply on the other end. Sam's father had been dying of cancer several years before, but after being blended with a Tok'ra symbiote that was all behind him. What could he be talking about? "I'm dying, son. There's nothing that can be done. It will happen soon and I just wanted you to know." There was a long pause as Cam had no idea what to say. General Carter was friends with his father of course, but he'd never been that close to Cam, though he had helped convince him to not quit the Air Force. He covered his mouth with his hand. Sam would be devastated. "Sam's going to need you, Cameron, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Cam breathed softly, his eyes beginning to sting.

"Don't let the rules stand in your way. Good-bye, son, I have to call Mark now." Jacob hung up after Cam bid his own farewell and he replaced the receiver in its cradle. He didn't take his eyes off it until his physiotherapist placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Bad news, Cam?" she asked as he looked up. He nodded.

"I need to call my friend." He picked up the phone and began dialling the SGC personnel contact number.

* * *

Stargate Command, June 2005

Sam sat in her lab, staring at a computer screen which wouldn't stay focused in front of her eyes. She closed them and covered her face with her hands. She was going to lose him. They'd just gotten to a place where she felt they could be happy as father and daughter and she was going to lose him. She'd had to call Mark earlier to tell him, and moreover to tell him he wouldn't get to Colorado Springs in time even if he left immediately. He'd had even less time to re-establish a relationship with their father than she had, and his anger at him had been fiercer than hers ever had been. Her hands pushed up into her hair and clutched at her fringe angrily as she growled in frustration. A piercing ring invaded her mind and she glared at the phone on the corner of her desk. Who the Hell was calling her? She grabbed the receiver and brought it to the side of her face.

"Who is this? What do you want?" she practically yelled into the phone, her blue eyes fierce as she slammed shut the lid of her laptop.

"Sam? It's Cameron." came the hesitant voice from the other end of the line and she blinked in surprise. He would be at Petersen, finishing up his physical therapy. She planned to go see him later in the week. _Had been planning_ to go see him later in the week. She closed her eyes and sighed. She had no idea what she was going to do now. Her anger all slipped away at the sound of his Southern drawl and her eyes welled up in tears. "Your Dad just called me. I'm so sorry, Sam."

"Cam? I... my father? Why?" She couldn't straighten out her thoughts. Just a moment before she'd been so angry, but now she was just confused. "Cameron? Did my father..." Suddenly the tears began flowing and she couldn't stop them. Her hand covered her mouth as she hunched forward and screwed her eyes shut, taking in a shuddering breath before pulling her hand back and clutching at the receiver in both her hands with shaking fingers. "Cam, my Dad is..." she couldn't get the words out through her clenched teeth.

"I know, Sam, he said you'd need me." he said soothingly, "I will be there as soon as I can get away from this venomous harridan trying to unscrew my ankles off. OW!" She blinked in surprise at his yelp of pain. "Watch what you're doing there! Righty tighty, lefty loosey, got it?" Sam's eyes crinkled in amusement even as the tears continued to flow. "Sam, I've got to go, I have to get this quack to show me her medical degree again. OW! Damn it!" She knew by the way he said it exactly what kind of glare he was throwing at his hapless physiotherapist, her lips twisted up slightly. "Sam, I'll be there in an hour- OW! Two hours- AAH! Alright, alright... I will be there at some unspecified time in the future no later than sunset." The next thing he said was obviously meant for his doctor as it was slightly muffled as he held the receiver away from his face. "Happy? _Thank_ you!" he grumbled something unsavoury about doctors before speaking to Sam again. "I will be there to pick you up, I promise. Will you wait for me, Sam?" She was nodding already, wiping at her eyes.

"Yes, Cameron. I'll be here. Waiting for you." she made her own promise, a slight smile playing across her lips. She whispered a soft 'bye' as he bid her farewell and hung up the phone. She took a deep breath and let it out, feeling better somehow. Cameron was coming.

Four and a half hours later she was stepping out of the base entrance into the waning light of early dusk, she had said good-bye to her father a little over an hour before and he passed away peacefully, whispering 'I love you' to her in his final moments. Jack had put his arm around her in the observation balcony while she waited for Jacob to pass, tears had been brimming all day while she waited, but wouldn't come. Jack's presence was solid, secure and caring. She'd had trouble pulling away until the time had come for her to go to her father. Afterwards she'd retreated into herself. Holed herself up in her lab and tried to will the world away. It hadn't helped.

She flashed her badge at the Sergeant on duty at the entrance and he nodded and waved her on after examining it for a moment. She walked away down the path, wondering where Cam was, he'd had her paged, but now was nowhere in sight. She turned her head and there he was. Hands stuck in the pockets of his light jacket as he gazed over the cars in the car park off in the distance. He turned his head to her, almost as if she'd called him and he came towards her a step, pulling his arms up and opening them wide. She blinked and her brows tightened as the tears just began falling and before she knew it she was in his arms, her face buried against his neck. His embrace closed around her and she clutched at the back of his jacket as the sobs wracked her shoulders. She felt his own tears roll down onto her cheek as his face tilted over hers and she pressed even tighter against him, she understood now why he was waiting so far from the entrance. They were out of sight of the guard house where they were standing.

"Let me take you home, Sam. You can't drive." he whispered into her ear as he stroked her hair gently. She nodded into his neck, but didn't pull away from him, she couldn't pull away yet. She'd break if she did. His embrace was the only thing keeping her whole right at that moment. "I've got you, Sam." he breathed softly. She didn't ever want to pull away.

* * *

USS Odyssey, above P3X-474, May 2007 + 2,320 days relative

Sam wanted to pull back, but Vala forced her head still in the hideous contraption she'd assembled to take scans of her facial movements. She grimaced and blew air from her pursed lips, sending the locks of her fringe askew which only had her friend huffing and plastering it back with her fingers, after she'd given them a good lick of course, much to Sam's horror.

"Keep your hair out of the way, Samantha. I don't need to record that." grumbled the former smuggler turned pulp fiction auteur.

"Vala, just what do you hope to accomplish with this?" Sam asked. Vala's gaze flicked onto her eyes before returning to their task of aligning the scanner properly along its guides.

"Absolutely nothing beyond wasting my time in style." she admitted with a smirk. Sam scoffed.

"This is an awful lot of work to be considered 'wasting time.'" Sam muttered sullenly. Vala's eyes brightened as she flashed one of her patented grins.

"And yet, a waste of time is exactly what it is. Because none of it will ever have happened once you get us off this boat." Vala finished off what she was fiddling with and activated the scanner with a few quick key presses. "Now, get with the emoting already." Sam frowned at her.

"Okay, I understand that with Cam playing Lockhammer, you want me to play his love interest-" Sam was interrupted very quickly by Vala.

"She's not his love interest." she declared definitively and Sam could only gape incredulously at what was surely a bald-faced lie from her friend.

"Come on, Vala, this is me you're talking to. Jennifer van Staten is so totally hot for Cain Lockhammer's alter ego Christian Haverlock." she cried and Vala glared at her. "It's obvious! And I know she's based on me."

"No she isn't." Vala said nonchalantly while staring intently at her computer screen. Sam scoffed.

"Vala..." she muttered before she began listing off on her fingers. "She's a scientist who invents and builds all of Lockhammer's weapons, gadgets and vehicles, she solves all the scientific problems in the books, she commands his space carrier and she also has to save him on occasion."

"Coincidence." Vala muttered with a faint smile. Sam's lips drew into a tight line and she narrowed her eyes in consternation.

"Vala, it's really obvious she likes him and he likes her, I've read the first two books, remember? I read the rescue from Henniorus' temple moon." She lifted her eyebrows as she made her point and Vala turned to face her with furrowed brows.

"Only the first two books? Why not the other two?" she asked indignantly and Sam rolled her eyes with a sigh.

"Because I'm in the middle of reading the first book in your new series. You know, 'Monica Kinolta and the Legend of a Million Years'?" She looked sidelong at Vala. "The beautiful art thief who turns over a new leaf and becomes an intrepid adventurer solving the oldest mysteries in the galaxy after meeting the handsome investigative reporter, and amateur galactic historian, Jenson McKenzie."

"Yes, I'm particularly proud of those characters." Vala preened with a satisfied smile. Sam raised an eyebrow.

"I've read the first two hundred pages and I can already tell she is totally into him." said Sam to Vala's shock and dismay.

"Samantha, I do believe you have some sort of penchant for seeing romance where there is none." She turned back to her screens as Sam chuckled ruefully.

"Fine, let's stipulate for the sake of argument that I have a romance filter on my reading glasses." Sam conceded before lifting her eyebrow with a smirk. "How then, do you explain when Monica says to Jenson, and I quote, 'I so have the hots for you right now,' right after they return from the Caverns of Nierro?" Vala's fingers on the keyboard stilled for a moment before she turned to look at Sam.

"That's a perfectly normal reaction to having lived through such a harrowing experience. It was the adrenaline, the joy of living to see another day." Vala turned back, obviously deciding she'd said enough. Sam laughed out loud.

"Right. Want to know how I know you're full of it?" Sam asked. Vala raised an eyebrow in curiosity and Sam grinned evilly. "Because that's how I felt a lot of the times Cam and I had close scrapes. And I _always_ had the hots for him." Vala gritted her teeth and looked away again while Sam laughed in triumph.

"You shouldn't taunt the author, Samantha." she warned and Sam blanched.

"You wouldn't." she breathed incredulously.

"Wouldn't I?" Vala asked with a smirk. Sam quieted for several long moments.

"Fine." She dropped the subject with a frustrated scowl. "Anyway, how come you're using my face for Dr. Van Staten, but you're voicing her." Vala shrugged a shoulder before turning around.

"First of all, I'm only using your scans to map expressions and help with animations." She tilted her head and motioned to the Core across the room with a waved hand. "I'll be generating her face and features with the help of the Asgard Core, though I admit you'll be something of a template for her." She then gave Sam an apologetic look before continuing. "Secondly... Samantha, dearest, Christian Haverlock and Dr. Van Staten are British and well, your accent is terrible." Sam gaped again before glaring.

"My accent is bad, but Cam's... you're telling me Mr. Hayseed Cornshucker can put on a better British accent than I can?" she asked incredulously.

"I wouldn't say it's good, but it has... something." Vala paused for a long moment. "Here let me play something for you." She turned back to her computer and queued up a file to play. It was Cam's voice, but the tone was clipped, intense and slightly cruel. He emphasised words oddly, but the overall effect was amazing.

"Take your sidearm _out_ of my face, _Lieutenant_, or you _will_ be forced to kill me." he growled intensely. There was a pause before he continued in a strident tone. "_Mark_ my words, Mercator, I will _find_ the Lance of Eridanus, then I will shove it _down_ your throat if it's the _last_ thing I do!" Sam was entranced. And the way he said 'lieutenant' in the way the Brits did was just _wrong_. Wrong, but _so right_. She shivered slightly and Vala queued it up to play him saying the rank again and watched her reaction.

"Oh my, Samantha." she smirked evilly and Sam reached her hand out from under the contraption she was stuck in, but couldn't reach the former smuggler. She settled for pointing at her.

"I'm warning you, Vala, keep your mouth _shut_. Understand?"

* * *

USS Odyssey, above P3X-474, May 2007 + 2,824 days relative

Cameron came to the Core room in hopes of dragging Sam away for their movie night only to find her watching the first Cain Lockhammer short film that Vala had screened for them three months before. He grinned, remembering how they'd all had a great time watching the pulpy CG film with its space battles and ray gun shootouts. He remembered Sam had looked very intense during several scenes, especially where Cain was interacting with the soldiers of Duke Numio Mercator's army after being captured and forced to undertake a dangerous quest to prevent the massacre of the people of Juytrava. He also remembered he'd had a great time doing the voices for several of the characters.

He was surprised Sam hadn't noticed him yet, she was staring at her laptop very intently as it played one of those scenes in Mercator's throne room. As he approached her she pulled back the slider to play the scene over. He watched her lips moving as Cain spoke certain words and he frowned slightly in puzzlement. She pulled back the slider again and he crossed his arms with his brows furrowed. He watched her carefully then blinked. A slow smile passed over his lips. He walked up behind her and leaned down with his mouth close to her ear, then placed his hands on her shoulders which had her jumping in surprise.

"_Lieutenant_. Colonel. Carter. It's time for our movie night" He enunciated every word as Cain Lockhammer would, especially the way he pronounced 'lieutenant.' Sam shivered and scrunched her shoulders up before whirling around and pressing her hands to his mouth. She pushed him away as she stood up, still not taking her fingers from his lips.

"You are forbidden from speaking that way around me. Understand? Forbidden!" She pressed her forehead against her hands over his mouth and he wrapped his arms around her waist while a huge smile spread under her fingers. "I'm going to ask General Landry to promote me. I can't stand being a Lt. Colonel anymore." she whined. "It's too dangerous."

* * *

Selenis, Luna, September 2010

Sam's eyes peeked open blearily on their last morning on Selenis before they were about to set off for Camelot aboard Galadia. She lifted a hand to her eyes and pressed the heel of her palm against her closed eyelids, grumbling softly lest she wake up Cameron sleeping next to her. She froze. He wasn't sleeping. She moved her hand away and turned her head to see him leaning on an elbow watching her with _that_ smile on his face. She narrowed her eyes. He just smiled brightly and leaned down to kiss her gently.

"Time to get up, sweetness. We've still got stuff to do this morning before we set off." He turned away to scramble off the bed and she followed more slowly. She watched his back warily as he headed for the washroom. She stood up and ran her hand through her sleep-tossed hair and padded quietly into the washroom after him. She entered, languidly stretching her arms over her head before slipping them around his waist from behind and pressing her face against the back of his neck.

"Morning, Cameron." she mumbled and he chuckled as he brushed his teeth, she smiled as she felt the rumble through his back. "Remind me again why we're going in Galadia instead of just 'gating there?"

"Hmm, 'cause Galadia's spent a grand total of eight seconds in hyperspace so far. She needs a good shakedown flight." he replied and she gave a short laugh. "What?"

"_She_ needs a good shakedown flight?" she teased and he bristled.

"Be quiet or I'll..." he stopped and she grinned.

"You'll what?" she asked, squeezing him tight and looking at him in the mirror over his shoulder. His eyes met hers and they were dark as he bent down and rinsed his mouth before looking back up.

"You talk in your sleep sometimes." he said softly and her eyes widened in alarm. "Just this morning in fact. Were you having a dream from our time on Odyssey?" he asked. She shook her head gently. "No?" He turned around in her arms and placed both his hands on her cheeks, kissing her gently. "Shall I tell you what one of my dreams is?" His eyes glittered and she nearly bolted. "I dream that one day I'll see you with three stars on each of your shoulders." She quailed in fear and shook her head after he'd moved his hands around her lower back, holding her closely against him. "I dream of leaning in close to you and calling you _Lieutenant_ General Samantha Carter." he intoned using Cain Lockhammer's voice, her knees buckled as she pressed her head against his chest.

"Forbidden." she whispered breathlessly as he laughed.

* * *

Galadia, Scutum-Centaurus Arm Supergate 6, September 2010

Cam felt the transition through the Supergate's wormhole as a blinding clash of micro-variances in the differential flux of the subspace/realspace boundary fields, as the deafening roar of the hypergeometric escalation in the point energy distortions throughout the event horizon photon envelope. He decided he was going to filter most of that input from Galadia's sensors the next time he did this. When he rematerialised on the other side he almost immediately pitched himself up from the seat, clutching at his head. He felt Sam at his side instantly, putting her hands on his shoulders and he leaned against her for a moment.

"Cameron, are you okay? What happened?" she asked, pushing him back and kneeling down in front of him.

"What... Galadia sees... at the event horizon..." he whispered haltingly as she pushed her hand against his cheek and brushed her fingers back into his hair. She nodded in understanding. Probably far more aware than he'd ever be of what had just been happening in his head a few moments ago. She stood and took his hands in hers.

"Come on. I'll fly us the rest of the way. You get some rest." She helped him up after he nodded and sat down in his place, the serum allowing her to activate the chair and initiate the hyperspace journey to Camelot. He sat down at one of the forward consoles and checked through some systems diagnostics. "Hmm, sweetie, how do you stop micro-managing all these systems?" He laughed and turned around in his chair.

"With great difficulty. Maybe you should order Galadia to slap your hand whenever you get too fiddly." He stood up and walked over, bending down over her, he waited for her to open her eyes to look at him before kissing her softly. He quirked an eyebrow when she smiled mischievously at him. "What?"

"Galadia just told me what you do to stop micro-managing." She grinned and closed her eyes again. He glared at her knowing full well she'd see it via the internal sensors.

"Yeah, well, if you can think of things you'd rather be doing than adjusting engine power levels every five seconds it goes a long way to alleviate the problem, doesn't it?" he muttered with a flick of her forehead. She giggled and opened her eyes again before sitting up. He helped her up out of the chair and they walked over to the forward view port to watch the rippling blur of hyperspace. "How'd you like it?" She sighed and her eyes glazed over for a moment before she turned to face him.

"Galadia _is_ power. It was a bit scary to find out just how much." she breathed and Cam nodded, well aware of what she meant. "The ferocity just barely contained, waiting to pour out on a whim." She shook her head slightly.

"And she seems so polite." Cam murmured to Sam's chuckle.

"~The two are related, Colonel Mitchell.~" Galadia intoned and Sam laughed at Cam's wry smile. "~Being polite is even more important when one has the strength to simply forego it completely if so desired.~"

"~I know where you're coming from, Galadia.~" he admitted "~A fine point, well made. How long until we have to come out of hyperspace?~"

"~Approximately one hour, seventeen minutes and twenty-eight seconds.~" replied the AI.

"~You have a very strange definition of 'approximately', Galadia.~" Sam teased while Cam took her hand and walked towards the transporter at the rear of the bridge. He gave her a smile and she rolled her eyes. "Cameron..."

"You have a dirty mind, Samantha Carter." He poked her then used the same finger to select a location closer to the engine room. "You haven't seen the Core room yet, it's quite something." She tilted her head as they walked down a short stretch of Galadia's corridor, blue crystal glowing softly through silver and white lattice work on the walls and polished black metal underfoot. He turned towards a door which slid open at their approach and Sam gasped. Not at the Asgard Core which seemed just the same as Odyssey's and Daedalus' Asgard Cores. It was the branched crystal helix running horizontally beyond a long stretch of glass at the side of the room which had her breath hitching. The multi-hued tines delicately spiralling away from the main coil. "That's the real Galadia, one part of her. There's another helix on the port side of the ship." He smiled as she walked over and pressed her hands against the glass, seeing the coil extending far beyond either end of the Core room. Cam wasn't sure why she had never really taken a tour of Galadia before now, but he decided it was time for a small one at least.

"Cameron, those branches of crystal are still growing." she breathed, he looked over and saw one of the tines branching itself off as it slowly turned along the main axis. "She adds more matrix as she gains experience and memory." She looked over at him in astonishment.

"~That is correct, Dr. Carter. My processing and memory cortices grow as I do.~" Sam looked up at the ceiling with a smile.

"~It's beautiful, Galadia.~" Sam whispered.

"~Thank you, Dr. Carter.~" burbled the AI happily. "~Colonel Mitchell also found a way to directly bridge my Cortex to the Asgard Core. I have full access to it.~" Sam turned to look at Cam in astonishment.

"I'm sorry I ever doubted your memories from Odyssey, you really became an expert in Asgard systems." She reached over and caressed his cheek. He grinned.

"Just be glad she isn't speaking to you in Asgard. She can do that now." he muttered and Sam laughed, looking up. "Selenis' Cortex is vastly more complicated than Galadia's. I'll need your help to do the same there." he admitted and leaned back against the glass. She nodded, still awed by the view into the softly glowing chamber beyond.

He spent the next hour taking Sam around the systems he and his engineering team had upgraded. The Asgard Constructor which also included the transporter beam based upgrades she had created while in the time dilation field. The two Neutrino-Ion power cores which provided power to all the Asgard systems on board as well as supplementing the twin ZPMs Galadia typically sported. He showed her how he'd interfaced the Asgard cloaking technology with Galadia's regular shielding, thus allowing the cloak to operate while the ship was in hyperspace if necessary.

He even took her to the flight bay for a short stop, standing near to the back wall he just waved a hand and Galadia had two large panels in the floor rising and sliding apart while a third smaller one lifted back parallel to the wall. A Stargate, identical to Selenis', rose from the recess to stand upright, and the panels then slid back, thin slices from the sides of the rear panel touching the back of the metal ring while the central section and the main panels rotated and came back down where they'd been, the pattern on their reversed sides clearing indicating the extent of the unstable vortex projection area both in front and behind the Stargate.

"You didn't think Galadia was without a nine symbol address, did you?" he teased and she slapped his arm, knowing full well Galadia had to have a Stargate somewhere. "Unfortunately, Galadia relies on Selenis for her database, and since Selenis' is still a little light, so is Galadia's." The Stargate returned into its recess in a flurry of rotating dark silver metal. "She doesn't actually know how to dial more than eight symbols."

"Maybe I should jury-rig something with my dialling software from Hypraxia." she murmured and he smiled, taking her hand as they walked back towards the transporter. "Temporarily anyway." She leaned against him.

"~Dr. Carter, Colonel Mitchell, we are approaching Camelot.~" Sam's eyes brightened and she looked at Cam hopefully. He chuckled.

"You started it, you can finish it." he said and she practically skipped the last few meters to the transporter, eagerly selected the bridge and bounded towards the control chair. He moved towards the forward view and gazed out into the depths of hyperspace as it blurred past then suddenly compressed and fractured into the familiar star-speckled blackness of realspace. He flicked his eyes over to the left and saw the deep greens and browns of Camelot growing larger as Galadia slid into an equatorial orbit. "Very nice, baby. For your first time controlling it, that was perfect." She chuckled from behind him as she rose up from the chair.

"Remember, Cam," she pointed at him, "five percent," she pointed to herself, "ten percent." She laughed as he gave her a mock-glare. "Admittedly I wasn't trying to hit the Kármán line from seven and a half astronomical units out," she burbled proudly as she slid her arms around his waist, "that was some _real_ flying, sweetie. I never told you how much that impressed me." He could feel his ears burning as she leaned closer and kissed him deeply. She pulled her lips back and let her temple rest against his cheek. "I want to say Daniel can wait another few minutes, but if he ever found out he'd be furious." Cam laughed and took the hint, raising a hand and touching the comm in his ear.

"Jackson, this is Mitchell, come in." he called and stroked Sam's hair as she leaned against him.

"Mitchell, Sam? Just hang on a sec, um... don't come down yet." Cam looked at Sam with an evil grin and she frowned.

"Cam, no, what if he and Vala-" she began before he shook his head.

"You really do have a dirty mind. No, sweetness." he interjected. "It's well after High Sun down there, he's probably with some of the locals and giving them the 'there is no magic' speech before we beam down." She thought about it for a moment until a slow smile spread across her lips. "~Galadia, beam us down to Dr. Jackson's coordinates, please.~"

"~Of course, Colonel Mitchell.~" she intoned and they were enveloped by the familiar white sheen of the Asgard transporter as Sam leaned away from Cameron slightly. He grinned as he saw Daniel dragging a hand across his face after they materialised in front of a giggling Vala and slightly smirking Teal'c to be greeted by the wide eyes of Meurik and Valencia inside Merlin's library.

"You and your damn timing, Mitchell."


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 7**

Colorado Springs, New Year's Eve 1989

Cameron leaned his head against the cold glass of the passenger's side window of Sam's Volvo. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath of the cold air into his lungs as she opened the driver's side door and settled herself into the car, handing him the paper bag and rubbing her gloved hands together after closing the door. She started the engine and had the heaters going soon after. One benefit of buying a Swedish-built import was the good heating system built to stave off the Scandinavian winters. She put the car in gear and drove off, heading for downtown Colorado Springs.

"There wasn't much, even for New Year's Eve." she grumbled and he chuckled, looking inside the bag to see a standard-sized bottle of Asti Spumante, he glanced up at her and she gave him a look. "I don't care what you think, we're celebrating, we have _lots_ to celebrate." He let her recite it all. "It's New Year's Eve even if we can't be with our families," he nodded, his extended practice schedule for the Liberty Bowl had curtailed any plans for going home over Winter break, Sam just didn't like flying back to Washington to stay with her father, "I'm now a second class Cadet/Master Sergeant," he smiled at the reminder that she was still proceeding at the pace she'd set for herself when she'd arrived at the Academy, "it was my birthday two days ago and _I don't care_ that you lost the Bowl game." She growled the last with a warning look and raised her finger at him. "You got me a good present, I didn't expect a Bowl win on top of it, you ass." He chuckled softly.

"I know, Sam, I would have liked it, but it was also my last game. I wanted to go out a winner." He was surprised when he felt Sam's hand taking a hold of his and gripping it hard, then lifting it so his arm raised up to the roof of the car. He gasped in pain and clutched at his side, holding on to the ribs he'd cracked just before half-time when he took a nasty late tackle from an Ole Miss linebacker after handing off to his running back.

"We were up 20-14 when you got injured. So as far as I'm concerned, you did go out a winner." she said softly, gently lowering his arm and then running her fingers over it in apology. He breathed in tightly through his nose for a few moments with his eyes closed. "I don't care that Mississippi won the game, you weren't on the field." Her voice dropped so it was just barely audible before she continued. "I only go to watch you play." He glanced at her with his brows tightly furrowed, but said nothing. They were already crossing Pike's Peak Avenue onto South Union Boulevard before Cam recognised Memorial Park on their right. Sam turned in and navigated to the car park just south of the Veteran's Memorial. She killed the engine and turned to him for a moment. "I need you to understand something, Cam. You can't disappoint me." He let his gaze drop to the dashboard and she opened her door and got out. Cam followed after another moment. His boots crunched into the light layer of snow covering the lot. He paused to look over the Memorial Monument, its stone fingers, lit from below, reaching high into the night sky and joined together into a circle at their zenith by a crown of ironwork panels. He turned to her as she moved to the trunk.

"I know, Sam, that's not-" he stopped when Sam laughed out loud, that full throated laughter that he loved so much. He drew his lips tight with a sigh.

"Yes it is, Cam. Don't deny it." She eyed him with a smirk as she pulled out a small basket and a large blanket. He walked forward, the brown paper bag with their sparkling wine held under his arm. He took the basket from her hand as she closed the trunk with a grateful look. They set off towards the picnic area at the edge of Prospect Lake and placed their things under one of the canopies, keeping them out of the light snowfall which had begun a few minutes before.

Cam glanced around at the few others who'd had the same idea as they had for a slightly less crowded New Year's gathering spot, albeit one which still afforded amenities. There were people clustered by a small stage erected next to a bonfire by the lake's edge, enjoying the soft strains of an acoustic guitar being played by a local musician, her voice clear as crystal in the cold air even without amplification. Sam perched herself atop the table with her feet up on the bench and reached into the basket to fish out a thermos, pouring out a measure of steaming coffee into the lid and wrapping her fingers around it protectively as she inhaled the aroma. Cam smiled to himself as he looked down and picked up the blanket from beside her and opened it out, draping it over her shoulders. She smiled at him, her lips clearly visible thanks to the distant firelight from the lake's edge and the moonlight streaming down from above.

"You have no idea, Cameron, how much you've already done for me." she breathed after taking another sip. He stood in front of her with his hands in his jacket pockets. "You throw me off balance, only to steady me once more." He turned to look out over the ice-bound shore of Prospect Lake, out past the breaking ice to the shifting surface of the water and its fractured reflection of the Moon. "You cloud my thinking, only to shine a spotlight on the exact idea I need." He turned his head to look out over the bare trees by the lake, the snow lining their branches, whipped up by the wind and clinging to one side of their trunks. "You push me so hard, right up to the point where going on would set me back." He turned to the small throng of people around the musician as she sat on a tall stool with her guitar propped up on her knee and the last quavering note of a song floated towards them to be followed by grateful applause and enthusiastic cheers. "I wouldn't have quit the Academy even if you hadn't been here," he turned to face Sam as she gave him a playful smirk before piercing him with a more serious look, "but you have made something which would have been frenetic, stressful and difficult, into something interesting, laid-back and fun." He blinked as she looked down into her coffee before she offered it to him. He reached out and took it, taking a good swig of the dark, bitter liquid before handing it back. He felt the warmth seep down his throat and spread from the pit of his stomach outwards. "So I'm here to celebrate. And to say thank you." He looked down with a sigh and a shake of his head. She really had no idea.

He turned his head around and Sam dropped off the table, letting the blanket spill off her shoulders, when the small throng of people by the stage started calling out a countdown. She grabbed his arm with an eager grin and a glint in her eye and pulled him over to the bonfire. They joined in with the last few seconds and everyone cheered and cried out their greetings to the newborn year as soon as the first streak of fire was seen rising into the sky over Pikes Peak and erupting into a globe of blue sparkles to rival the stars, to be followed by more in hues of green and red and orange and purple and white. Their distant explosions soon joining the pealing of the bells of the nearby churches ringing in the New Year. All around them the people were hugging and kissing and their jostling had forced Sam into his arms, where she grinned and looked at him with eyes reflecting the shower of fire in the sky with their own inner blaze. Time slowed as he watched her grin falter slightly into something softer, the curve of her lips illuminated by the moonlight punctuated with each coloured explosion of the heavens. He leaned forward slightly, unconsciously, seeking the warmth he knew would be there in those lips.

"Come on everybody! Kiss the person next to you! Get 1990 started off right!" cried the singer as she leapt down from the stage and planted a kiss on the first cute guy she could get her hands on then began strumming on her guitar energetically as everyone cheered and followed suit. When Cam returned his gaze to Sam after it had been pulled towards the singer he found her smiling broadly again and chuckling. She tilted her head to the side and her eyes sparkled.

"Can't disappoint 1990 while it's still so young, right? Shall we?" she asked and very purposefully placed her hands on his shoulders. He smiled and nodded, resting his hands on her back and leaning in for a small kiss as everyone around them cheered in delight. They were applauding and hooting for every kiss they saw in the small crowd. He pulled back and felt Sam pressing into him tightly, her cheek flush against his. "Happy New Year, Cameron." she breathed.

"Happy New Year, Sam. Thank you so much." he replied. She pulled back and grabbed his hand in hers, pulling him back towards the picnic area.

"Come on, we have wine and I made sandwiches, brie and cranberry on French sticks. We can warm them up on the grill set up by the bonfire." She grinned as they crunched through the snow. "Brie is lovely when it's slightly melted."

* * *

Stargate Command, May 2006

Cameron frowned and his hand holding the razor stopped just over his foam-lathered cheek. He reached up, wiped away some of the steam from the mirror in front of him and saw Daniel looking at him in a rather suggestive manner. His first thought was that the linguist was playing a joke on him, that didn't seem likely though. Jackson had a sense of humour, but it was heavily based on sarcasm and irony. He turned around slowly. Another thought was that he'd gone and fiddled with some piece of alien technology, certainly a possibility, but Cam tended to keep abreast of anything the archaeologist was working on. He certainly remembered nothing that sounded even vaguely dangerous or which could mess with his mind.

"Jackson? Is there something I should know?" he asked and Daniel shrugged his shoulders with a very wide grin on his face. This was getting disturbing. The grin looked kind of familiar.

"Perhaps, Cameron, that you look very good with just a towel on?" Daniel began while leaning to the side and very definitely checking out Cam's backside. Some of the others in the locker room were already backing up, some in amusement, others not so much. "Or maybe that-"

"You're not Jackson." Cam interrupted with a scowl and crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the sink. Daniel stood up straight with broad smirk and shook his head. "Okay, honesty is good, so you have five seconds to tell me who you are or I get Private Danning over there to call the SFs." Daniel looked over at the stern-looking young Marine and waved before turning back to Cam.

"It's me, Vala." Another smile from Daniel had Cam looking away with a grimace. There was another possibility, that Daniel had finally had a psychotic break and developed multiple personalities. "I swear, Daniel hasn't gone wonko," he flourished his fingers on either side of his head, "it really is me." Cam looked back and narrowed his eyes. Daniel cocked a hip with his hands at his waist and looked at him appraisingly. "So... I've been gone for ages, have you told her yet?" Cam blinked in alarm and frowned. Damn, it really was her. What the Hell was going on? He pointed back towards the entrance.

"Go wait outside, I'll be out in five. Then we're getting some answers... Vala." he muttered and turned back around. Daniel beamed and spun on his heels theatrically, waving to all the men around him. Cam shook his head while he looked in the mirror at the way Daniel's hips rolled as he sauntered out. Five minutes later, Cam found Daniel/Vala chatting happily with one of Daniel's very confused assistants who must have spotted who she thought was the archaeologist in the corridor and came over to discuss some small project. "Vala, don't mess with people's heads!" Cam nodded towards the young linguistics scholar and pointed at Vala. "Not currently your boss, Dr. Simpson." She looked flustered, but relieved that she hadn't just been having a conversation about lip gloss and nail polish with her supervisor.

"Um, alright, Colonel Mitchell, um... I guess I'll... just be going." She smiled at Cam and turned away quickly.

"Bye, Mary." Vala waved after the retreating young woman. She turned to Cameron and fell into step alongside him and looped an arm through his. Which drew stares from those around them. "So where are we going, my dear Colonel Mitchell?"

"We're going to find Sam, I expect she'll know what's going on." Cam replied as they reached the elevator and called for it. Sam would likely be eating her breakfast in the mess.

"So you haven't told her?" Vala asked as they entered the elevator and the doors swished shut on them. Cam glared at her then shook his head. "Cameron..." He raised a finger in warning which she just ignored. "I really don't understand, even if you can't be together you should tell her. You're just making yourself unhappy as you are." Cam closed his eyes and sighed. The worst thing was the woman had a point.

"I can't, Vala, if it messes up things between her and me, that would be worse." he breathed softly as the car slowed and came to a stop on sublevel 22. Vala blew air from Daniel's pursed lips and looked away abruptly.

"Just imagine I tossed my hair at you, Daniel's is too short." she groused and he chuckled, stepping out of the elevator. Definitely Vala. "I think you're missing out on something very important, Cameron, and for what? Some rules on a piece of paper somewhere?" Cam glared at her fiercely.

"It's for our careers, _her_ career. Sam's one of the most important people in the Air Force right now and I would never-" He was stopped by Daniel's finger against his lips.

"Sometimes you say the stupidest things, Cameron." Vala muttered and walked on. He bristled and stormed after her towards the mess, hoping desperately to regain his composure before he got there. As he walked in he spotted Sam at their usual table, he paused for a moment just to watch her before pulling Vala forward and stepping up to her table, pointing at the smuggler in an archaeologist's body.

"How is _this_ possible?" he asked Sam as Vala tilted Daniel's head to the side and stood with his hands on his hips. Sam looked up in confusion then dawning comprehension and Cam had to close his eyes momentarily because it was far too adorable.

"Oh, my God. It worked!"

* * *

USS Odyssey, above P3X-474, May 2007 + 3,480 days relative

"You want to build another simulator?" she asked as he moved the control stone over the etched metal surface of the Core's console. He looked over his shoulder as she sat at her chair by her laptop and crossed her legs while looking at him.

"Not right away, maybe won't even need to. And it won't be a simulator, more like a regular holodeck." he gave her a little look as she started laughing. "So you think it's a silly idea?" She shook her head with an amused look in her eyes. He smirked and walked over to her. "Come on, Ms. Skeptic. Let me show you something." She quirked her eyebrow and let him help her up then held his hand as they walked from the Core room. "I've been doing the groundwork for it in my simulator. Main thing was adding forcefield projectors." She tilted her head.

"Forcefield projectors?" She looked away for a moment as the possibilities rushed over her. "Traction fields for movement, surface projection for structures. Honey, you've added this to your simulator already?" He nodded as they entered the elevator.

"The basics of it, nothing fine grained." He looked at her as they exited into the corridor closest to the flight bay. "What I'm thinking about for the real thing needs to do more than just project surfaces." They walked out onto the flight bay and moved over to his simulator. As she rounded the corner at the back of the simulator she saw several open panels under the computer stations and lots of cables spilling out to several pieces of machinery lying haphazardly on the floor. "Sorry about the mess." She giggled and he led her inside the dome after retrieving the remote from its holder on the console. He pressed a few buttons and the F302 rose up on its stanchions high past the center of the sphere, almost touching the wall.

"Cam, didn't you say that the computer uses the cockpit as the origin for its simulation?" she asked as she watched the gantry fold itself under the fighter's fuselage. He grunted and handed her the remote. She took it and looked down at the display to see it flashing a notice. 'Dynamic Origin Mode' was emblazoned at the top of the display.

"In this mode the computer takes the midpoint between our heads to use in its calculations as an approximate origin. Also it gets the 302 out of the way." Cam explained and she nodded. She spotted a menu on the side labelled 'Locations' and she flicked through it and chuckled. At the top of the list were the obvious locations, 'USS Odyssey' and 'P3X-474' with further submenus leading from them. She was surprised to see some other locations, 'O'Neill-class battleship', 'Othala' and 'Orilla', the submenu of which listed a few locations such as the 'Yngmir Forest' and 'Lake Urstavanger'. She quickly selected the lake and the display shifted from the black with yellow gridlines to the treeline at the edge a vast placid lake, with the reflections of the distant mountains shining under the twin moons of the former Asgard homeworld, now destroyed.

"Oh, Cameron, this is beautiful." she breathed. "You got this from the Core?" He nodded. "It looks amazing." He took her hand and led her to one of the trees and he placed her hand on it. She pressed and frowned, it felt as if it was definitely there, but it didn't feel right. "Fine grain control?" He smiled and nodded at her understanding then led her around the edge of the lake, they walked for a good five minutes, talking about the scenery and what he'd learned from the Core about the place. She realised they must be walking over the top of a shaped traction field and they were probably right in the center of the simulator. Cam held up the index finger of his hand then led her towards the water, she shied from it until he stepped right in. It looked perfect, the water flowed around his legs just as they should. "Vala will want to use this to film live-action location shots." She chuckled as he smiled then she bent down to place her hand in the water. Again, definitely resistance, but it felt wrong against her skin. Not like water. "You're thinking of simulating water droplets with forcefields?" She asked incredulously.

"Believe it or not, it would take less power than having the Asgard transporters create real water as needed, not to mention having to hide the white shimmer behind holograms all the time." He pointed out and she nodded. "Still needs a lot of work though, I'm sure you can tell."

"Yeah, it doesn't feel quite right." She stared back into the treeline. "Individual leaves, individual blades of grass?" He nodded, but raised a finger.

"Only at interaction points." he said and she blinked at the simplicity of that. Cam was always finding little things that would save time and speed and processing. Such as only projecting the forcefields for things which were in contact with one of them.

"So if I had a stone and threw it into the lake?" She laughed as he tilted his head and looked at her as if she were talking nonsense. "Of course, we wouldn't bring real stones in here." She reached down into the water and pulled up a stone from under the water. It felt very smooth, a little too smooth, but still very stone-like. "As soon as this leaves my hand..." She lifted an eyebrow at him and he nodded smiling.

"The force fields switch off and it becomes just a hologram." he confirmed. "Even if it hits the water off in the distance it'll just be a hologram. Only if you toss it to me will it reapply the forcefield once my hand touches it."

"Well, what you've got already is amazing, Cameron, but what about when two people are in here, but walking in opposite directions?" she asked.

"When they get a certain distance apart-" he started only to chuckle when she interrupted him as her eyes sparkled in amazement.

"The traction field splits and a double-sided hologram comes up between both people," she began rapidly, "which obscures the other person while simulating the growing distance between them." He nodded.

"The hologram between them bisects the dome." He pointed up and she followed with her eyes, noticing that the F302 was being hidden behind another hologram. "Best thing is that, since we're not moving at Mach 3, it can handle the extra workload of two origin points without any extra processing hardware." She grinned then looked back at him seriously.

"I don't understand what this is about. Why do you want to do this?" she asked while leading him back out of the lake as the fake water flowed strangely around her ankles.

"Just look at this place, Sam, you said it yourself, it's beautiful." Cam exclaimed, spreading his arms out wide while still having a hold of her hand. "Imagine camping out in this, or visiting a beach or-" He stopped when she put her fingers over his lips.

"You had me at camping." She looked around at the night sky, and the near moon occluding its larger sister in the distance. "So, honey, what are your holiday plans?"

* * *

Camelot, September 2010

Before they could say anything by way of greeting to their friends or their hosts, Sam found herself engulfed in Vala's embrace. She laughed and hugged her friend in return.

"Samantha! I missed you so much!" Vala cried.

"It's only been a couple of weeks, Vala, but yeah, I missed you too." She grinned as she looked over to Daniel and Teal'c. "We missed all of you, we really did." Cam nodded in agreement while Teal'c bowed slightly to them. Daniel sighed with a soft smile on his face.

"Good to see you again, Meurik, Valencia." Cam greeted each with a hand shake. Sam did likewise once Vala had been pried away from her by Daniel. She noticed the sword at Valencia's side and the militia insignia on the young woman's tunic and grinned at a beaming Cameron. "Congratulations, Valencia." She blushed slightly at his approbation and nodded happily. "Really, thanks for putting up with these three for all this time."

"It is always a pleasure to host Dr. Jackson and Teal'c." Meurik replied. "It has also been a joy to meet Lady Vala." Sam looked pointedly at the former smuggler who just shrugged with an innocent look. "You are both welcome to Camelot once more, Colonel Mitchell, Colonel... pardon, Dr. Carter." The older man smiled slightly as he corrected himself and Sam nodded to him. The town elder then made sure to invite them all to dine at his home and left to carry on with his duties. Vala took the opportunity to hug Cameron while Daniel gave Sam a quick hug then clapped Cam on the shoulder. After Teal'c was greeted in his turn Daniel wasted no time in grabbing Cam's left wrist and bringing it up so he could examine the dark metal clasp more closely.

"Try not to dislocate anything, Jackson." joked Cam to the archaeologist's dissatisfied grunt.

"You're given a piece of advanced technology by a member of the most powerful race to have ever walked this galaxy and you use it to tell the time." Daniel glared at him before bending Cam's elbow to show him the familiar time display. "Mountain Standard Time at that! I bet this thing could automatically adjust itself to any planet's rotational cycle instantly." Cam pointed at Daniel with raised eyebrows.

"That's a good idea, Jackson." he said brightly and Daniel snorted in disgust.

"I still can't believe you two met the builder of Selenis." breathed Vala in awe as she looped her arm through Sam's. "And that Selenis can rise to the surface! We are _so_ doing that again as soon as we get back! Understood?" She frowned seriously when Sam and Cam both laughed and shared a knowing smile.

"Show it to me." ordered Daniel tersely as he let Cam's wrist drop. Sam looked at him curiously for a moment until he rolled his eyes. "The Key." She nodded and was about to touch her hand to the clasp when Cam stopped her. She glanced at him as he looked towards Valencia.

"Valencia," he began seriously in his best impression of Daniel, "there is no magic." He gave Sam a nod and Vala was already laughing at the warning look Daniel threw towards the Air Force officer. Valencia for her part just grinned mirthfully as she stood next to Teal'c. Sam drew her fingers away from her wrist then slipped her hand into the strip of light she had created in the air in front of her. Valencia was looking on wide-eyed while Daniel just shook his head until Sam pulled out the silver disk and handed it to him. The strip narrowed and thinned before fading completely. Daniel was already flipping the disk over and over in his hands, running his fingers over the grooves, raised bevels and Alteran glyphs.

"I don't believe it. And you say this is related to the Lock of the Eternal Moment?" he asked them and Sam shook her head.

"The Lock of the Moment of Eternity." she corrected and he nodded slightly with a tilt of his head. "And that's a part of the Key to the Vault of Infinity."

"Of course, thessara can mean 'treasure' or 'the place where treasure resides.'" he murmured absently.

"Ilemus did describe it as a subtle though predictable mistake." added Cameron with a smile. Daniel was busy turning the disk around in his hands. He didn't even seem to notice as Vala walked to him and directed him to a seat with small touches on his shoulders. Sam smiled at the sight. "Oh, here's something else." He touched his fingers to his own clasp and drew it away, pulling a large case from the strip of light. "We brought the Lock too, so you could look at it." Daniel looked up at that and his eyes glittered in gratitude as Cam rested the case in front of him on a pile of books on the table. "And one more thing," he reached his hand into the strip which hadn't yet faded and pulled out a steaming cup of coffee from Daniel's favourite café, "Sumatra Mandehling. One cream, two sugars." The stunned archaeologist just blinked. Sam bit her lip as she smiled as Cam winked at her. "This thing seems to hold whatever we put into it in some sort of stasis."

"Did you bring me anything, Cameron?" Vala purred as she sidled up to him. Cam laughed and drew out a tub of chocolate ice cream for the elated woman, she gave a little squeal and ran over to Valencia with the tub in hand. "Come on, Valencia, you're going to love this." She grabbed the young woman's hand and ran out the library in search of cutlery. Sam laughed as Vala blew them both a kiss as she darted out the door. Daniel was still staring at the cup of coffee as if he couldn't quite believe it was there.

"We didn't leave you out either T-man." Cam began as he reached into the strip of light and pulled out the custom stock and grip of Teal'c's preferred M60E3 machine gun. "All your favourites." He laughed at Teal'c's clear look of amusement and Sam's vague look of dismay.

"Cam, you haven't..." She trailed off at his stupid grin, realising that of course he had, he probably had a small armoury's worth of weaponry in there. She created the tear and reached in, pulling out a P90 with a sigh, stuffing it back in she pulled out a block of C4 and stuffed it back inside just to pull out the front end of a FIM-92F Stinger shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missile launcher. "Cameron!" she cried as she stared at him aghast, he just shrugged while Teal'c nodded his approval. Daniel was reaching for the cup and he still seemed only distantly aware they were there. Sam glared at Cameron as she stuffed the missile launcher back inside then pulled out exactly what she thought she would, an ice-cold bottle of beer. "Holy Hannah." she breathed as Cam began laughing.

"Let's just say I have yet to discover a limit to this thing." he said through his chuckles and Sam shook her head, putting the bottle back. She glanced at Cam while her hand was still inside the strip and he gave a little nod. She concentrated and nearly groaned as she pulled out a plate with a fully loaded turkey sandwich. "Don't ever say I don't love ya, T." He grinned as Sam passed the plate to the Jaffa who accepted it with a light chuckle and a short bow to them both.

"You're unbelievable, Cam." she breathed with a shake of her head as she slipped an arm around his lower back. He slipped his hand around her shoulder and smiled.

"I'll say." Daniel added as he nursed the cup of coffee he'd been taking short sips from in between long satisfied sighs.

Fifteen minutes later, Vala and Valencia were both licking their bowls of any last trace of chocolate ice cream while Sam leaned against Cam's shoulder on their high-backed bench as she played idly with the long spoon from the sundae glass of blue jello she'd found inside her clasp's storage dimension. God she loved Cameron. They all sat around the table in Merlin's Library while Daniel had been summarising his and Vala's findings from the previous fortnight.

"It's still as slow as ever going through this place." he grumbled. "I'm seriously thinking of asking General Landry to authorise a full digitisation and indexing program for these books. It would really help out." He opened a couple of books in front of him to pages he'd marked off with loose pieces of paper. "I didn't get any hits in any text for a few days, until then we'd really only had the stories Vala managed to learn from the townspeople and their legends. Valencia helped her out a lot." He chuckled as the young woman smiled softly. Vala grinned and ruffled her hair before taking over the summarising.

"Just about every legend told by Valencia's people, and by those of the surrounding villages Teal'c and I visited with her, have a direct connection to Merlin or Arthur in some way." she explained. She was about to prop her feet up on the table when she was stopped by a cough and a warning glare from Daniel. She sighed and let them drop back to the floor before continuing. "A lot of them have to do with the Sangreal as you'd imagine, most of those which specifically mention Merlin in opposition to someone involve Morgan le Fay. There _are_ a few which mention a group of men, traitors who stood against Merlin's ancestors."

"We know them as the Tilexsuli." Valencia elaborated.

"The Exiles of Tile. Or as we know it, Thule." Daniel translated.

"The main legend is of the remaining Tilexsuli fighting a great battle against Merlin at a place called the Plains of Ar Domûn." Vala continued. "Merlin discovered that the Tilexsuli had released a scourge upon several lands in the distant past. In retribution for these heinous crimes he froze them under the earth in a vast block of crystal. There to spend all eternity imprisoned." Sam glanced up at Cam in wide-eyed surprise and he frowned slightly. "What is it, Samantha?" asked the raven-haired woman after she noticed the look.

"Well, Vala, we found Ilemus encased in a stasis block," Sam began and the other woman nodded, "from the outside it looked an awful lot like a column of crystal, lit from within."

"That would fit with our assumptions about what Merlin did." agreed Daniel in a soft voice.

"Do we know anything about this Ar Domûn?" Cam asked. Daniel shook his head apologetically.

"No, nothing, but that's not the interesting thing about this legend." Daniel leaned forward and picked up one of the books he'd opened earlier, passing it to Teal'c who handed it to Sam. She laid it across hers and Cam's laps. She couldn't read what was on the page itself; it was a local dialect, related distantly to Alteran; however, the sheet of paper Daniel was using to mark the page had a translation of the passage he'd found interesting. "Every variation of the story from every source I find it in, mentions that after the battle, Merlin left for the Agate Seat." Sam looked at him askance. "The 'agate' in this case is the translation used for a catch-all term in the original which refers to all sorts of semi-precious gems of igneous and sedimentary origin. The original is Sedis Murani."

"Merlin went to Muranis?" Cam asked incredulously and Daniel nodded. He turned to Sam and she nodded, sitting up and pointing to the clasp on her wrist.

"Daniel, two nights ago, we found out what the Archive of Ilemus is." she began as Daniel's eyes became steely and intense. "Cam and I shared a dream of Ilemus visiting Muranis, _after_ the exodus to Lantica." The archaeologist jumped up and ran for a shelf, dragging out a scroll that lay atop a line of books and spreading it out on the table. He scanned it then pointed to a column of text.

"'Myrddin landed in the abandoned Home, following in the footsteps of Ailemu. Seeking for the chalcedony key, lost in ancient times.' Do you see what this means?" he asked. "The lost key of chalcedony, the key of Muranis." Sam glanced at Cameron with a small frown. Merlin went to Muranis in search of the Key, the text specifically mentioned Ilemus as well.

"There's a connection between Merlin, Ilemus and the Key." Sam said softly to Daniel's satisfied nod.

"Have you seen anything else from this Archive?" he asked expectantly only for his shoulders to slump when they shook their heads. "I was hoping you'd be able to confirm something for me." He gave Vala a little signal and she stood up, heading for a bookshelf behind her, pulling out a small book which she brought to the table, opening it to another marked page. "We found mention of the Agate's Home Sigil in the legends Vala learned from the locals. When I looked over some heraldry lists I saw this inscription under a depiction of the coat-of-arms device of one of Arthur's knights." Vala handed them the book and Sam looked at it as Cam placed the other book they'd been holding back on the table. It was an image of a shield painted black, in the center of it, in green, was a hexagon with eight curved rays of gold rising from its center to stop just short of its edges. "We think this is Point of Origin symbol for Muranis' home planet. The Agate's Home, so to speak." Daniel muttered uncertainly and Cam looked up in confusion.

"Jackson, this isn't one of the symbols for those other two addresses which share Selenis' first eight chevrons." he said with a small frown.

"I know. Which is why we were hoping you'd be able to confirm it." He sat back down dejectedly not noticing the look of alarm that passed between Sam and Cameron.

"~Galadia, open a subspace channel to Selenis, please.~" Cam said after raising a hand to his comm. Daniel looked at him curiously while Vala shared a look with Teal'c.

"You appear to be concerned with this new information." stated the Jaffa as he glanced between them both.

"Well, Teal'c. If this is Muranis' home planet Point of Origin symbol and it still shares the first eight symbols with Selenis, one of the other two symbols we have is for Kariala." Sam explained. Daniel frowned in confusion.

"~Connection established, Colonel Mitchell.~" confirmed the ship in orbit.

"~Selenis, this is Colonel Mitchell. Lock out the other two Stargate addresses in our database which share your first eight symbols. Sound a Red Alert if a connection from either one is established.~" Cam ordered as Teal'c's features finally settled into understanding.

"~Acknowledged, Colonel Mitchell, I will inform Stargate Command.~" replied the AI and Cam thanked her.

"And the other is for Thule." Sam finished for Daniel and Vala's benefit once the comm had disconnected. Both looked back in horrified silence.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Chapter 8**

Air Force Academy, May 1990

Second class Cadet/Chief Master Sergeant Samantha Carter walked purposefully, to all outward appearance, down the corridors of Vandenburg Hall. Under the surface however, she was seething with doubt and fear. He was graduating tomorrow. He wasn't leaving for a few days, but she wasn't going to be here after the ceremony, she had an appointment to meet with the general who'd assigned her that special project on wormholes. That wasn't why she was filled with fear and doubt. She had no fear of the brass, having grown up with her father she knew they could only do so much. She wasn't afraid or uncertain about him graduating and her having to complete her final semester without his reliable presence. No. She was afraid because she was about to tell him how she felt. She was doubtful because she had no idea how he'd react. After all he had every female cadet at the Academy watching him with soulful eyes and he tended to keep them at a friendly distance. She scrubbed her hand through her short blond hair and nearly turned around. There was no way he'd feel the same! She kept walking forward, however. All the while her brain was debating with itself between preserving her dignity and being true to herself, her traitorous heart kept right on propelling her feet forward until she found herself staring at his door and involuntarily raising her hand to knock. The door opened almost instantly to reveal him holding the slate blue jacket he'd be wearing at the ceremony in the morning. It looked like he'd been brushing it and polishing buttons.

"Sam!" His face split into a grin and she nearly ran. She would have if her knees weren't frozen. "Come on in," he pulled on her elbow and she nearly stumbled into his room, "have you come to make sure I wasn't making a dog's dinner of my kit? Have no fear." She smiled and shook her head, standing next to his desk and fidgeting nervously with her hands. Its surface was covered with various papers; his badges, buttons and ribbons; his Cadet/Colonel shoulderboards, which marked him as the Group Commander for the Third Cadet Group; and in the corner, his radio and various CD cases haphazardly stacked. The radio was tuned to the campus station KAFA and playing something with an interesting melody.

"No, Cameron, I came to tell you..." She looked down nervously as he hung his jacket on a hanger. He glanced over at her when she stopped and turned around to look at her quizzically. He came to stand in front of her and lifted her chin with a finger, this spurred her on slightly. "I came to tell you that I..." Her mind was reeling incoherently, she couldn't come up with the words. "You're graduating tomorrow and-"

"You'll be there, right?" he asked seriously and she had to stifle the soft intake of breath at his intense look. "I need you there, Sam." She nodded quickly.

"Yes, I'll be there, Cam. I just won't be able to see you afterwards." she explained and cursed herself. This wasn't why she was here. "I have to go to Washington, I've been asked to go meet General West and the lead researcher on his project, a Dr. Langford." Cam nodded with a sad smile.

"That's really good, but remember what you need to do to get what you really want, Sam." he said warningly and she nodded, he knew being an astronaut was her ultimate goal and she reassured him she knew what she had to do to get there.

"I know." She gave him a little smile before falling quiet for a long moment. She had to get her courage, she needed to be strong, the worst he could say was that he just wanted her friendship. Just do it, Sam! "Cameron, I..." She looked up and froze as she looked into his eyes, dark and intense, a blue she'd never seen except in the deepest sky as she flew in the gliders at high altitude. It felt like ice slivers were slashing at her spine.

"Sam, I want to tell you... I've been meaning to tell you since..." he hesitated atypically, his voice trailing off into nothingness though his eyes never left hers. As they shared that locked gaze the song being played on the radio changed to a mournful piano melody, pain and solitude evident in the hesitant notes. The male singer's vocals began singing of recovering from a broken heart, about retreating inside until the heart had regained its strength. Then he sang of meeting someone new and approaching hesitantly, fearful of renewed pain. Sam couldn't take her eyes from Cameron, but she could see his eyes turning turbulent, she felt her own gaze wavering when the chorus ended to lead into more of the soulful piano. The next verse began with the strong declaration that he wished to take the chance at heartbreak, to give the other the chance to choose as well, to return his feelings or break his heart. When the line of the song turned to that, to giving the other person his heart to break she felt the tightness in her own chest and her eyes which had been locked on Cameron's now shimmering gaze faltered and fell to the radio. She couldn't do this, her heart was filled with cruel fingers of ice, squeezing and crushing her, she could barely breathe. She kept her eyes on the radio until the last wavering note of the piano drifted away to be replaced by a new song. She blinked her eyes and turned slightly from Cam who similarly had turned towards his window as he cleared his throat and rubbed at his chin. She clenched her hands into fists and closed her eyes for long moments, forcing herself to regain some composure.

"When you get your assignment you have to get me contact details." she ordered, turning to him, he nodded without facing her. "I mean it, Cam, I don't want us to lose touch." she said softly as he finally turned around to face her once more. He shook his head.

"I won't let that happen, Sam. I swear." he breathed and she nodded before her feet simply moved on their own and she found herself pressed against him, her head resting on his shoulder as her arms clutched at the back of his shirt. His own arms encircled her shoulders more slowly, but held her just as tightly as he leant his head against hers. "I'll come watch you graduate with the rest of your year. I know you'll technically graduate in December, but I swear I'll be here to watch you throw your cover into the sky." She nodded against his shoulder as her eyes welled up. "If you need anything, Sam, anything at all..."

"I know, Cameron, I know." she whispered and he nodded against the back of her head. "Same goes for you."

* * *

Rosarito, Mexico, February 13th 2009 (alternate timeline)

Sam turned her head from the distant blue horizon of the Pacific off the coast of Playas de Rosarito and spotted Cameron sitting on a towel on the sand and letting his phone drop down to his lap while he looked at it. Had he been pointing it at her? She tilted her head and brushed her windswept hair back around her ear. Her thoughts returned to what she'd been thinking of when she had been gazing offshore, how she couldn't quite believe she was getting married the following day to the man she'd been alternately pining for and running from for the last two decades. She looked over at him again and he was staring out to sea himself. She smirked ruefully as she thought about what had to happen to get them together. Ba'al had to change the history of the galaxy so they'd return through the Stargate to a world where Samantha Carter was dead and Cameron Mitchell had never been born. She cursed him and herself both for fools, for wasting so much time. She walked over to him, letting the sand sift between her toes as her sandals dangled from her fingers. He looked up at her and smiled, holding his hand up to her. She smiled and took it, entwining her fingers with his.

"Hey lover," she breathed, "I was just thinking about you." She knelt by his side on the blanket and leaned down to lay her head in his lap. He smiled and ran his fingers through her hair while she looked up at him. "I was thinking about how much time we've wasted." His fingers stilled a moment before carrying on. He nodded sadly, apologetically.

"I know. There were times when I was going to tell you, times when I just... I lost my nerve and I'm so-" he stopped when she placed her fingers over his lips as she shook her head.

"We're both to blame, love, we both let chances slip by us." She smirked and let her fingers drop against his chest. "The day before you graduated... when I came to see you..." She paused as she felt his breathing hitch. "I went there to tell you that I loved you. I wanted... I wanted you to know, even if you didn't feel the same." He smiled as his brows tightened and his fingers brushed the hair that fell over her cheek.

"I was going to tell you too when you came, I'd been wanting to tell you for so long already." Her eyes widened slightly and she cursed Billy Joel. His eyes crinkled in amusement and he leaned in slightly. "I didn't buy another of his CDs for years." she laughed out loud then pressed her palm against his chest and they sat quietly in the sand for several minutes while his fingers ran through her hair.

"Cameron," she began as she twisted around to face out towards the sea, draping her arm over his knee, he made a little enquiring sound, "remember when all those alternate SG-1s came through to the SGC three years ago?" He made a little sound of confirmation. "I've been thinking about them a lot lately. I had been so distracted by so many things back then. Obviously trying hard to deny my attraction to you, being faced with an intractable scientific conundrum, seeing Martouf again," she paused for a moment, "and Janet too." She closed her eyes and savoured the touch of his fingers on her cheek. "I've been thinking about them lately, because a lot of what I saw during those days gained a new context, a new perspective, when I just asked myself whether any of those Carters and Mitchells felt the same way about each other as we did." She looked at him and saw the amusement in his eyes. "What?"

"You really only talked shop with the other Carters, didn't you?" He smiled as she glared at him and he raised a hand in apology. "I know, baby, you were all working really hard, I _know_." She turned away with a little mock-huff. "I talked to the Mitchells. Most of them were mad for their version of you. Some of them were married to you already." She looked over in surprise and he nodded. "Apparently, frat regs weren't the norm among those realities we intersected with." She frowned in confusion then her eyes widened in realisation.

"The me with the glasses!" she cried and he nodded with a smile. "That's what that look she gave me meant. Holy Hannah!" She covered her mouth with her hand and he laughed. "Oh, there was that female version of you as well, but wasn't she dating the female version of Daniel?" Cam chuckled at that.

"Ah, yeah. Though if you spent any time with her it was pretty obvious she was also pining for her Sam." he elucidated and she looked at him questioningly. "Her Sam was married to General O'Neill." Sam gasped. "Still, the look she always gave any of the Carters that would sneak a peek at the lady Cameron was something else." She frowned at him.

"And how come you could recognise her look for what it was and not notice me?" she asked and he laughed.

"Honey, I've never seen you looking at me like that. Which was probably your intention." He smirked at her and she grumbled ruefully that it was the case, she couldn't fault him for not noticing something she'd tried very hard never to let him see.

"She was extremely pretty, Cam." Sam admitted softly and giggled at Cam's look. "I once told Vala when we were watching the DVD of the game that I'd go gay for the female Cameron." He gaped at her as she laughed. She pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around him, pushing him down into the sand and kissing him over and over again. "I'm glad I don't have to though." She smirked in between kisses.

* * *

Galadia, above Camelot, September 2010

Cameron stepped out of the Stargate into Galadia's flight bay to be greeted by Teal'c and Vala waiting for him along with Valencia. Vala had been giving the young woman a tour of the Alteran vessel it seemed. She was still looking around wide-eyed. He smiled and nodded at them all and waited for Sam and Daniel to follow on behind him through the wormhole.

"So don't keep us in suspense, Cameron." Vala started with an eager grin. He gave her a little look.

"Well, General Landry agrees we have to try and find Muranis as soon as we can." Cam replied and Vala nodded.

"Tests at Hypraxia dialling with the new symbol don't establish a connection though." Sam continued and Vala looked crestfallen. "The feedback says there's a 'gate there, but a wormhole won't form. Like it's been buried."

"So there's nothing we can do?" asked the smuggler despondently.

"Actually, there is another way." Daniel replied as he walked forward towards her. "I can't believe Mitchell actually came up with it." he muttered and Cam gave him a glare before indicating they should all move towards the transporter and the bridge.

"Sorry about this, Valencia, but we'll have to drop you off back down on the planet. We can't take you with us." Cam said to the young woman as they all transitioned onto the bridge. "We'll be back soon, whichever way things go."

"I understand, Colonel Mitchell. It was very good to see you all again and I hope to see you soon as you say. Good luck to you." She smiled at them and chuckled when Vala gave her a fierce hug.

"~Galadia, please beam Valencia back home.~" Sam ordered and waved as the young militiawoman was enveloped by the Asgard beam and vanished.

"What was your idea, Colonel Mitchell?" asked Teal'c as Sam moved off to the transporter and transitioned elsewhere and Daniel sat down at the port side console.

"If it is at all like Selenis then Muranis has more than one Stargate." Cam replied sitting down in the command chair and reclining. He concentrated and Galadia surged forward out of orbit, then leapt into a hyperspace window away from the system. He sat up and glanced at the two alien members of SG-1.

"The Supergate." intoned Teal'c in understanding and Cameron nodded. "It will also share the same address as the regular Stargate."

"Right, Sam explained that the two different kind of 'gates operate on different... frequencies, for want of a better term." Daniel explained. "Barring any strange occurrences, such as a large influx of energy causing an open wormhole to leap from a regular 'gate in close proximity to the Supergate, like you guys did with the Ori 'gate, then Supergates can only be dialled by other Supergates."

"Wait, Cameron, Galadia has told me she doesn't know how to dial nine chevron addresses." Vala said pointedly from her seat by one of the forward stations.

"She doesn't," he confirmed. "but then again, these Alteran Supergates out in the wild handle all that themselves. They're 'gate and DHD in one, and they all know how to dial 9 chevrons." Vala's eyes brightened and she smiled. He raised a hand to his ear. "Sam, how's it looking?"

"With Galadia's help I should be able to do this in an hour or so." she confirmed and he nodded. Teal'c glanced at Cam with a raised eyebrow.

"She's rigging a drone with sensor equipment and a beacon to broadcast a signal. I don't want to fly us through if there's even the slightest chance we'll just go splat on a shield." Cam explained and Vala cringed, standing to walk over to Daniel who was setting up his station with the Supergate dialler.

"Indeed." agreed Teal'c as he walked towards the transporter. "I will go aid Samantha Carter in her work. The drones are surprisingly heavy for their size." Cam thanked him before leaning back in the chair to prepare the ship for 'gate travel.

An hour later they were all on Galadia's bridge as she maintained station-keeping distance with the local Supergate high above the galactic plane. Vala and Daniel had gathered up Alteran integrity suits for them all and distributed them, even one for Teal'c's large frame. Sam was taking weapons out of Cam's little extra-dimensional armoury and shaking her head as she set them aside in preparation for the mission. He'd admitted to her that he'd managed to put something in there he couldn't get in and out without the help of some Marines who were his eager accomplices. That had scared her. Cam stood up from the control chair and walked over to her as she straightened up and checked over a P90 with an expert eye. Vala and Teal'c were arranging bandoliers to go over their integrity suits in place of the usual tac vests. He'd have to thank Corporal Danning for his suggestion to include those. She smiled when she turned her head to look at him and picked up one of the bandoliers and looped it over his head, then cinched the thin belt around his waist. She picked up one of the P90s with its shoulder strap and looped that over his head and right arm. Cam had trained himself for ambidexterity and was a mean shot with a pistol in his left hand, but his right hand was still dominant. She looked up with the ghost of a smile and he chuckled in amusement. She tilted her head in curiosity and he leaned in closer to her ear.

"If we were a normal couple then you'd be straightening out my tie and suit right now. Instead you're strapping a sub-machine gun to my chest." he whispered as she fastened the clip at the stock of his P90 to the bandolier. She laughed as he leaned past her to pick up a bandolier and looped it over her shoulder and cinched the belt at her waist. "I wonder if in some alternate reality somewhere, we have nine-to-five jobs and a house in the suburbs." Sam shook her head.

"I don't want to think about that sort of thing. I can't imagine you not being a crazy fly boy." She smiled when he clipped her own P90 to her bandolier. "However, I do like how you just assume that even in such a disparate reality we'd still be together." He grinned and kissed her before moving back to the command chair, she stood over him as he sat down and it reclined. "Galadia has clearly marked the beacon drone so you should know which one to fire. I've disabled most of its energy generation and shielding, just remember not to send it through too fast, it will still pack quite a kinetic punch if it hits something on the other side." He nodded, clearly seeing the specific drone in its silo.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road. Narrow the Supergate to seven hundred meters and dial it up, Jackson." he ordered and the archaeologist's fingers flew across the dialling console. He watched through his 'eyes' as the Supergate twisted in on itself and narrowed its aperture before corruscating arcs of energy lit up along its outer edge. He could sense everyone on the bridge tensing in anticipation. Wondering if the wormhole would establish a connection or not. When the event horizon began forming from the edges of the 'gate inwards to the center and an enormous kawoosh expelled itself from the violent flux of the subspace/realspace boundary layer, he could feel through the internal sensors as the tension in his teammates' shoulders dissipated only to be replaced by the more familiar set of determination. He 'nudged' the beacon drone and launched it, sending it streaking through the void between Galadia and the massive tear in the fabric of space-time ahead of them. He cut power to the drone's propulsion so that it coasted through the event horizon as Sam had suggested.

"We have a signal." cried Daniel from his station. "Receiving sensor telemetry... It's reporting no obstructions in range, it's safe for Galadia to go through. Sending the self-destruct signal." They all turned to Cam as he lay back in the chair with his eyes closed.

"Jackson, open a subspace channel to the SGC." He waited for Daniel to acknowledge it. "Stargate Command, this is Galadia, come in." he intoned as a hologram display suddenly winked on to show Chief Harriman.

"Galadia, this is Stargate Command, we read you, Colonel Mitchell. General Landry is on his way." answered the senior non-com as he nodded to each of the members of SG-1 in greeting.

"Thanks, Walter." Sam smiled from beside the control chair until General Landry appeared next to the Chief Master Sergeant who quickly stepped out of the way.

"What news, SG-1?" he asked eagerly.

"We've established a connection, General." replied Sam as she nodded towards the active Supergate out of the front views, Landry's eyes focused down and to the right slightly and Cam knew Galadia was transmitting the view from the forward sensors as an inset feed. "Beacon drone reported no obstructions."

"No noticeable energy readings either." added Daniel with a glance at his console, Sam nodded in thanks before turning back to General Landry.

"We're ready to proceed on your order, sir." she concluded and Landry gave her a curt nod.

"You have a go, SG-1. Find out what's in that base. Good luck. Landry out." he ordered and ended the communication after Sam's sign off.

"You heard the man, boys and girls. Time to see what's on the other side of that wormhole." Cam said brightly and fired off Galadia's engines. "Get to your stations, and be ready for anything." They were all seated by the time he had Galadia raise her shields and filter out the finer sensor readings before the ship's prow broke the event horizon. They emerged into utter darkness, save for the shimmering blue light of the active wormhole behind the great ship. When Cam deactivated the sensor filtering he'd put in place he pitched forward out of his seat immediately, rushing for the forward view.

"Mitchell? What the Hell?" cried Daniel at the sudden movement of his friend. Teal'c stood up, expecting something to happen. Sam stood also, searching her screens for whatever could have caused Cam's surge forward, but found no targets in range.

"Galadia," breathed Cam as he pressed his hands and face to the transparent matrix, "Adagio."

"~Of course, Colonel Mitchell.~" responded the AI. Everyone on the bridge fell silent as the delicate strains of a classical piece floated from the bridge's speakers. They were all on their feet now, confused and a little alarmed by his behaviour. Sam walked up to him and put a hand on his arm.

"Cam, what are you doing?" she asked in a worried tone. He continued to stare off into the darkness, haunted not only by the ghostly blue outlines he'd seen by the light of the active Supergate before it had disengaged, but also by what he'd seen in his mind through Galadia's sensors.

"That right there," he breathed with a pointed tap of his finger against the matrix of the forward view, Galadia responded by switching on every external light and spot projector on her hull, sweeping them slowly ahead of them, "needs some 'Adagio for Strings.'"

"What are you talking-" He heard Sam's words stop with a gasp as she followed his finger, the whole team was standing at the front of the bridge now, and Galadia's lights illuminated an incomprehensible scene. The light refracted through and reflected from multi-hued crystals, bouncing and shining on the facets of other formations nearby until the whole space seemed to glow from within in shades of rose, ochre and green. They were encased in a long cavern at least three kilometers wide, with rippling walls of crystalline planes and sharp angles. The far end was at least ten kilometers away and along the entire length was a dizzying forest of crystal trees curving away in all directions.

"Sam," began Daniel from where he stood by a stunned-looking Vala, "as much as I'm loathe to agree with any of Mitchell's usual craziness," he paused for a long moment while they gazed on as Galadia slowly drifted forward to the accompaniment of the mournful strings, Sam was already nodding, knowing what he was about to say, "the man has a point." he finished in a pained whisper. Teal'c moved forward to gaze out on the eerily glowing landscape, his features softer than usual, his eyes distant.

"This place is impossible." murmured the Jaffa as the lament of the violins rose hauntingly around them. Cam smiled briefly when he felt Sam's hand laid over his against the matrix.

"A geode." Sam breathed in shock. "an artificial geode." Her hand was now gripping the back of his tightly. He spread out his fingers and let hers slip in between his. All around them were pillars of crystal hundreds of meters long, slicing into the space from all angles. Jutting up from below, hanging down from above, the longest ones seemed to be angled towards them in a spiral down the length of the geode and shaped like thin blades, on one of them they could clearly make out the lines of an Alteran vessel exactly like Galadia. "Viridia." Sam said softly, looking at the ship where it rested, clamped to its streaked, rose-coloured plinth over their heads and to the right.

"~I have identified Command and Control.~" Galadia intoned softly, as if not daring to disturb the somber atmosphere created by the music. A small reticule seemed to encase a distant pillar of blue-green crystal at the far end of the cavern. A small hologram began rotating in front of them, showing a three dimensional representation of the pillar as it rose at an angle right to the center of the space. Sam reached for the hologram and pulled it towards herself, pulling her hands away from one another she enlarged the hologram then zoomed in to the crystal's zenith with a twirl of a finger in a lazy circle. They could see the faint outlines of something through the broad facets of the crystal's bevelled point. Sam peeled away the crystal shell and they saw the unmistakeable shape of a Stargate standing amid several structures, reminiscent of Selenis' control areas, tucked up against the crystal walls, these were sunken into the floor however, instead of raised on balconies.

"That's why you couldn't dial the Stargate." Vala indicated the large crystal rising through the center of the 'gate at an angle from the floor. "Some sort of emergency system that does the same thing as burying the Stargate would?" she asked. Sam nodded slowly, indicating it was a valid theory.

"Could it perhaps be some sort of damage to the facility." Teal'c asked as he scrutinised the hologram quickly then looked out the forward views. He must have been looking for any other signs of damage.

"Seems very targeted, T-man, and I haven't spotted anything else that looks damaged in this place." Cam gazed out on the scene as well as they steadily approached the end of the cavern. "I'm sure whatever kind of crystal this place is made out of is seriously tough." Teal'c nodded and turned back to the hologram.

"~Dr. Carter, I have discovered faint energy readings.~" Everyone froze at the ship's words and Sam waved away the zoom on the hologram and quickly found the energy source Galadia indicated, she zoomed in to the outline of a chamber embedded deeply into the far cavern wall, a dimly glowing line, indicating the energy source ran a good hundred meters vertically through the crystal encrusted rock. She cut away the surface layers to reveal a large chamber with catwalks along the walls spiralling around another crystal, this one looked far more intricate and slender than any they'd seen so far. "~These views are extrapolations from my sensor readings.~"

"~Yes, thank you, Galadia, do you have any idea what it is?~" Sam asked as she slowly twirled her finger through the hologram, zooming in at specific points then zooming out again.

"~I believe that is Muranis.~" Galadia replied matter-of-factly. Sam's mouth gaped open slightly.

"~His processing cortex?~" she asked. She'd zoomed into the top of the crystal, but found that it was surmounted by a crown of machinery and disconnected from the roof of its chamber, held aloft only by eight massive stanchions, Muranis' manual decouple, Cam realised. Sam moved the view down to the bottom and confirmed the sharp point of the crystal was hovering over the chamber's floor.

"~That is correct.~" intoned the ship. "~Also, my analysis indicates the atmosphere in the chamber is breathable. At least as compared to the rest of the facility. That chamber has seen periodic air circulation, from my particulate readings I would estimate the last time to have been approximately two hundred Terran years ago.~"

"~Wait just a second.~" cried Daniel with a frown. "~Someone has been here as recently as two centuries ago?~"

"~I do not believe so, Dr. Jackson, I detect nothing to indicate such recent biological activity in my sensor readings or in any particulate samples I have brought aboard and analysed.~" Galadia shifted the view in the hologram to a small platform half way up the chamber which jutted out from the catwalk along the walls and encircled the crystal itself. "~This console is also drawing a minimal amount of power and appears to be connected into various environmental systems through these ancillary networks.~" Several thin lines running from the platform lit up and ran to several connection points into conduits on the chamber walls. "~It could theoretically be running the periodic recirculation.~"

"Can you estimate a time on the last biological activity, Galadia?" asked Teal'c his attention focused on the hologram.

"~Approximately one thousand, five hundred and twenty-seven Terran years ago, Teal'c.~" Sam laughed and grinned at Cam.

"~That is indeed _very_ approximate for you, Galadia.~" she joked as Vala and Daniel gave her a curious look.

"~There are many unquantifiable variables preventing me from providing a more authoritative estimate, Dr. Carter.~" Galadia's tone seemed almost reproachful and Sam just looked up at the ceiling indulgently. Cam shook his head with a smile and poked his finger through the hologram right on the platform.

"~Can you beam us directly here, Galadia?~" he asked as the rest of SG-1 took the hint and checked over their equipment. Sam gathered up hers and Cameron's helmets and handed him his, he pulled it over his head and locked it into place before unlatching the faceplate and pushing it back over his head. Sam checked his connections and then checked Teal'c's who examined hers in turn. Cam flicked on the flashlight on his P90 and gathered up the portable lamps Sam had set aside earlier, looping the strap over his left shoulder.

"~There is no shielding of any kind preventing transport, Colonel Mitchell.~" He nodded and glanced at his teammates in turn until they all nodded their readiness, each of them flicking on their flashlights and gathering up some equipment. "~The Cortex chamber does appear to have functioning gravity plating, but it is in a minimal power mode and simulating only the equivalent of one quarter Terran normal acceleration.~" Cam nodded.

"~Mind the first step boys and girls. Galadia, energise.~" he ordered and they all shimmered into whiteness before reappearing on a wide platform inside a vast chamber. Cam coughed and grimaced at the stale air as he raised his gun to illuminate the walls and consoles around them. It smelled faintly musty, but with a slightly sharper bite. Daniel was already setting up some of the lights by the console while Vala and Teal'c approached the opposite side of the platform and the catwalk. He felt the clasp on his wrist humming and frowned at it. He could see it glowing faintly through the wrist of his integrity suit. He looked over to Sam to see hers doing the same as her hands hung down at her sides while she simply stared up at the crystal the platform ran up to then circled around. "Sam?" He walked over and lifted his P90 to whatever she was looking at, he could see nothing, but she flinched at the light reflecting off inner surfaces in the crystal so he quickly dropped the weapon to his side. When he did he saw the pulsing flow of faint light travelling down the lattices. "What is that?" he breathed as he came to stand next to her. She glanced at him for a moment before turning back and lifting her left hand to touch the crystal. "Sam, wait!" There was a brief flash of light and Sam gave a small cry while her clasp glowed brightly, lighting up the entire arm of her suit. She stepped back and fell heavily into his arms, clutching at her head. He lowered her gently to the platform, wrapping his arms around her waist and back. "Baby? Are you okay?" She nodded through gritted teeth and buried her face against her hands on his chest as the others rushed over, asking what had happened.

"She spoke to Muranis." intoned a voice from the console and they all whirled about to face the speaker. A flickering image of a man in long flowing robes with white hair and a long beard spilling over his shoulders and down his chest.

"Moros." whispered Daniel incredulously.

"Galahad? Is that you, my boy? It has been a long time. Oh, Bors and Percival. Good to see you both." the hologram burbled cheerfully as he glanced to Teal'c and Cameron. He looked over at the raven haired smuggler who had rushed to kneel beside Sam and Cameron. "Valan too, oh my. What a reunion!" He moved forward to scrutinise Sam as she finally looked up from Cameron's embrace. "Guinevere?" he asked in confusion. "No, she wouldn't be travelling in this company. Of course, Angharad, you look so much like the Queen." He smiled softly while she lay her head on Cam's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Tell me, Angharad, what did Muranis show you?" Sam shook her head and screwed her eyes shut tighter.

"Nngg. Possibilities." she gasped. "Flashes of my life, _our_ life," she gripped the front of Cam's integrity suit under the bandolier, "teaching at MIT in the thirties," her eyes flew open as Cam looked down at her in fear, "cracking Enigma," she breathed, almost horrified, "Cameron, I didn't die. I didn't die on Praxyon." She buried her face into his neck and he clutched her to him as best he could through the suit. He shot a glare at Merlin.

"What's going on?" he demanded as the hologram stood up straight and looked up at the giant crystal.

"As I said, she spoke to Muranis."


	9. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, Atlantis or Universe, I am just playing in the world

**A Sword in Agate – Epilogue**

Al Karj AB, Saudi Arabia, December 1990

Lieutenant Samantha Carter sat outside the office of her new squadron CO and held her cover tightly in her hands to keep from fidgeting with it. She was trying to control her breathing also. Her first day at her first posting and it was right in the middle of a powder keg. They were only weeks away from declaring war on Iraq, to enforce UNSC Resolution 678 which gave a deadline of January 15th for complete withdrawal of Iraqi forces from Kuwait, and the Air Force was going to be the point of the spear. She lifted a hand and brushed her hair around her ear. She looked up when the petite Master Sergeant behind the desk next to the door spoke to her.

"The Colonel will be ready very soon, Lieutenant. As you can imagine things are getting very busy around here." Sam nodded to the woman as she shuffled some papers on her desk then quirked an eyebrow when the other woman's hands froze and the Sergeant bit her lip with a nervous glance her way. "Permission to speak freely, ma'am?"

"Of course, Master Sergeant." Sam replied with a small tilt of her head. The Sergeant's entire demeanour changed as she leaned forward slightly towards Sam and looked at her with a glint in her eye after surreptitiously glancing at the closed door beside and behind her desk.

"I am _so_ jealous of you, ma'am. Your flight leader is," She fanned herself with her hand, "_so_ gorgeous. He's a young thing, but very... _very_..." She sighed and closed her eyes. "You'll see what I mean, Lieutenant." She sat straight once more and resumed her entirely business-like façade. Sam blinked in stunned surprise, then smirked ruefully while looking down.

"I'm sure I will have a lot to learn from my assigned flight leader, whomever they may be. And they will no doubt have things to learn from me also." She tried to make it stern, but the Sergeant merely smiled in return.

"Of course, Lieutenant." She looked down at the intercom on her desk as it squawked into life.

"I'm ready now, Marty, please send 'er in." The Master Sergeant rose with a smile at Sam and indicated the door.

"If you would please follow me, ma'am." She opened the door as Sam stood and walked behind her into the room. She waited until Sam walked past her and came to attention, then closed the door behind her when she received a nod from the man behind the desk.

"First Lieutenant Samantha Carter reporting for duty, sir." Sam stood rock still with her cover held in the crook of her arm. The colonel stood up and walked around his desk.

"At ease, Lieutenant." He held out his hand which Sam shook. "Welcome to the 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Carter. You're one of the Chiefs now." He grinned and she smiled in return. He sat down on the edge of his desk and crossed his arms across his chest. "I'll tell you now, you picked a helluva time to graduate, but I ain't gonna complain, lost one of my flight leaders with a pair of broken pegs just last week in a crash over the desert. Runnin' a CAP along the border when his wingman spotted a bunch of Iraqi birds." The man grumbled in anger. "No shots fired, but he still managed to plough a brand-new, thirty million dollar Strike Eagle into the sand after knocking wings with his partner." He looked Sam up and down. "Still, I got a brevet commission for the hotshot I picked to replace him out of it so I guess I should thank the sumbitch. And Saddam too." Sam looked at her commander in confusion, she wasn't used to having such things spoken of so casually. "I'm assigning you as the new guy's wingman." He stood up and indicated Sam should follow him. She fell into step slightly behind and to the side of him. "Far too 'green' for the Captain's bars he already deserves, but with a war comin' he got 'em anyway, Hell, whole damn squadron's green." he grumbled before looking at her with a glint in his eye. "_Damn_ good pilot though, best flyer I've seen in years. Damn kid flies circles around mosta the other guys with twice his seniority. He gets the best out of 'em too." He shook his head slightly and Sam had to admit to being intrigued. "Just joined six months ago," her eyes widened slightly, "but I bet he'll stay a Captain right up until they can make it permanent." It couldn't be.

The Colonel led her along the dull white walls of the garrison building and out into the glaring desert Sun. They both replaced their covers and carried on walking towards one of the maintenance hangars in the near distance. All the while he was acquainting her with specific regulations and ways of doing things they had developed at the base, things she'd need to know. He returned to the topic of her new wing leader as they reached the hangar.

"You probably saw him around the Academy, both of you were there at the same time." He glanced at her, but said no more as he opened a side door to enter the hangar to the bustle of flight engineers tinkering underneath an F-15E. Sam followed the Colonel's lead and doffed her cover once more as she spotted someone standing with his arms crossed, facing away from them, the top of his flightsuit tied around his waist to reveal a white cotton tank top with some grease smudges around the back. Sam's breathing stopped momentarily when she saw him. It had been six months, but she'd recognise the line of those shoulders anywhere. "Mitchell!" He turned and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw her, then a slow smile split his face and made his eyes crinkle. Sam couldn't help her own smile creeping over her lips. Cam came to attention soon after and was waved at ease by the affable Colonel. "I think from the way the two a you reacted that ya might already know each other, but just ta be official about it, Captain Cameron Mitchell, this is your new wingman, Lieutenant Samantha Carter." Cam gave her a little nod which she returned.

"Yes, sir, Lieutenant Carter and I are a team from way back at the Academy, wouldn't have made the Superintendent's List my last semester without her help." He grinned and Sam found herself blushing furiously, remembering the hard work and late nights he'd put in with her help to manage the high grades to gain the academic distinction of the Dean's list to go with the Commandant's List military distinction and the Athletic Director's List he already had. All three together earned him the star, laurels and lightning bolts of the Superintendent's List pin.

"Right! Which just makes this all the more serendipitous. Hah, knew I could find a use for that one." The Colonel slapped his thigh and grinned at them both. "I'll leave Carter in your capable hands then, Mitchell." Both Sam and Cam came to attention as the Colonel nodded to them and walked away. When the man had left Sam found herself hoisted into the air from behind in Cam's bear hug.

"Cameron!" she said in a piercing whisper, but inside she was just as happy at the turn of events as he was. When he put her down she turned and gave him a proper hug before pulling back from him in his mucky state. She pinched the fabric of his smudged tank top with a mock-grimace and he laughed. "It's really good to see you, Cam. And what the Hell? Captain?"

"I've been frocked." He leaned in with a dark look in his eye. "The last guy was a real ass." he whispered. Sam took in his serious look and nodded slightly. He looked her up and down. "You look good, Sam, _really_ good." She smiled.

"You don't look so bad yourself, Captain Mitchell, already turning the heads of the non-coms in logistics." she said with a teasing quirk of her eyebrow. "I can attest to that." She laughed when he looked away in embarrassment and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah, well, that's not the kind of logistical help I need." he muttered. He shook his head and turned to give her a small look and put his hands on her shoulders. "You got my six, Sam?" he asked with a serious look. She flushed slightly at how dark blue his eyes turned and brushed the fingers of one of her hands over his on her shoulder.

"Always, Cam. You know that." she replied in a soft voice.

* * *

Praxyon, August 2009, (alternate reality, alternate timeline)

As Cam stepped from the event horizon he wasn't particularly surprised to see Sam and Daniel covered by the staff weapons of Teal'c's Jaffa. He also wasn't particularly surprised when the Kalashnikov he was carrying was ripped from his grasp while a zat'nik'tel was pointed at his chest by someone who should be his friend. He smiled ruefully at Teal'c's stern mien and put his hands up.

"Give me a reason I should not kill you where you stand." ordered the Jaffa tersely. Cam would have chuckled if this wasn't such a serious situation.

"Because, you're a good man." he offered, only to have Teal'c grunt and flick a glance over to his men who gripped their staffs more tightly. Cam cursed inwardly. "Because, somewhere, deep down, you realize we're supposed to be on the same side." That only got the zat pressed right under his nose while Teal'c glared at him. He flicked his eyes at Sam and gave her a little tilt of the head towards the Jaffa. She gave him a look.

"Because we can offer you the freedom of your people." she supplied and Teal'c turned to her without taking the zat from under Cam's nose. Teal'c's men shifted nervously, but stayed their weapons.

"Really?" Cam asked with a confused glance towards his wife. She rolled her eyes at him as Teal'c gave him a baleful glare then moved the zat away from him a little.

"This is Ba'al's failsafe. It has to be. I think this whole place is his time machine." She waved her arms around the cavernous space they were in. It was mostly shrouded in darkness, but Cam could see a walkway ahead of him leading to a platform with a massive tower of rings rising from it, a faint light shone through in between the rings, providing the limited illumination they now basked in. He saw two more platforms beyond that central one to the right and left of it. Teal'c deactivated the zat'nik'tel with a flick of his finger and let it drop to his side as he looked around, stepping past them along the walkway towards the central platform. Following Teal'c's lead the other Jaffa raised their staffs, allowing Daniel to step past them to follow Teal'c onto the walkway while lights along their edge began illuminating the entire space.

"Teal'c, you have to understand," he began earnestly, "in the timeline we just came from, the Goa'uld are defeated and the Jaffa are free." Sam began moving around the pair towards the platform where Cam saw something like a control console. "Now, Ba'al used a machine to go back in time and change all of that. He made you his First Prime and Qetesh his queen so he could control you." Teal'c turned to him briefly before replying.

"This is the secret for which Ba'al was murdered." he declared, Daniel looked away for a moment, his eyes dark. Cam stepped forward.

"So that's why you think Qetesh is on her way here? She wants to use this device for herself." He looked towards Sam who shook her head slightly as she watched Daniel in concern.

"That cannot be allowed to happen." The Jaffa's tone was more than merely insistent. Cam turned back to him with an intense look.

"See? We agree about everything." he added, trying to emphasize the point. Sam squared herself to face them and hooked her thumb over her shoulder from the edge of the console's platform.

"Teal'c, if you let us use this device, we can return history to the way it was meant to be." she offered and he glanced her way with narrowed eyes.

"The Goa'uld will be gone?" he asked and she nodded. "My people will be free?"

"You have our word." Daniel breathed as Teal'c turned to him then looked at each of them appraisingly for long moments.

"Let it be done." he ordered and Sam immediately turned to rush to the console, Daniel followed her. Cam stepped up to Teal'c while the other Jaffa moved along the walkway slowly. Sam began looking over the console, manipulating the globe at its center.

"It'll just take me a few minutes to figure out exactly how it works." she muttered, her gaze flying over the controls. Cam was always amazed how quickly she could get used to new technologies. Since being given command of SG-1, and finally marrying her after recovering from his crash in Antarctica, he'd managed to see up close just how good she was at this whole alien tech stuff. He was still fascinated by it all.

"That may be all the time we have." Teal'c said while handing Cam the Kalashnikov he'd taken from him earlier, Cam thanked him. "By my reckoning, Qetesh will be here at any moment." Cam joined Sam and Daniel in front of the console and looked over the controls himself.

"Well, you heard the man." he jibed Sam lightly and she took a moment to give him a little glare. Soon after that lights appeared at the top of the central tower, they looked up to see the Milky Way rotating slowly over their heads.

"There must be satellites orbiting every one of these stars. There's hundreds of them, each sending real-time telemetry back to this computer through subspace." Sam breathed in astonishment, her face lighting up in child-like fascination. Cam looked from her back up to the projected hologram, unable to mask his confusion.

"Exactly how does that add up to a time machine?" he asked her as she gave him a teasing smile. She turned back to the console and pressed a few controls.

"They're looking for something specific." she began only for Daniel to finish in dawning realisation.

"Solar flares." he breathed as Sam brought up a hologram of a star above the console, boxes of information in Goa'uld and Ancient flitting past their eyes. Cam blinked as he looked at the display, they mentioned most of the star's characteristic information, and also lots of current readings on magnetic field flux and other telemetry. It all went over his head so he dismissed it from his mind.

"Exactly." Sam grinned at her friend, before turning on her scientist mode. "Until now, other than Ancient technology, the only way we know of traveling backward and forward through time is to pass through a wormhole as it intersects the magnetic field of a solar flare. Now with enough satellites and enough computing-" Cam had to stop her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's brilliant." He looked at her apologetically and she gave him a faint smile. He loved her scientist mode, he could listen to her explain stuff all day usually, but they just didn't have the time right now. "Which button do we press?" Daniel turned a little glare on him and drew his lips tight.

"Yeah, I think it's a little more complicated than that." he muttered as the hologram disappeared from in front of Sam.

"Actually, not much." she said and Daniel blinked in surprise while Cam gave him a little knowing smile. "We just need to choose a time and place sometime before Ba'al can put his plan into motion." They turned at the distinctive noise of the ring platform activating only to be distracted once more by a sound from the console. They all turned back and were stunned into silence as a green laser field passed over each of them. They stepped backwards in shock, each remembering a time three and a half years earlier when Cam had been similarly scanned by a metal case waiting for them after they'd returned from the alternate reality where they'd planned to steal a ZPM. The case had contained three of the Alteran power generators, and a thank you note. Sam rushed forward when an overlay display winked into existence above an ancillary console and text, _in English_, appeared in it. She gasped as she read it and Cam joined her.

'Voice print analysis... complete. Verified.  
Facial recognition analysis... complete. Verified.

Welcome back SG-1.

Activating defensive countermeasures.  
Scrambling ring transporter sequence codes... complete.  
Scrambling ring transporter activation frequencies... complete.'

Whatever had just happened it hadn't been quite quick enough as the rings descended and disgorged a troop of Jaffa warriors.

"They are here." Teal'c called out as he and his men took up defensive positions around the central tower and opened fire. Cam turned to Sam and touched her arm.

"Sam..." he muttered with a stern look before turning to face the Jaffa firing at each other.

"Well, if you want to go back to the Cretaceous period, we can go right now, otherwise we have to wait for a flare capable of sending us back to a time and place that's a little more useful." she shot back acerbically while Cam handed Daniel his pistol and the archaeologist took his own out to wield both of them, they both then went to join Teal'c at the central platform. They managed to dispatch all the attacking Jaffa in short order as the ring platform provided no cover whatsoever. No more Jaffa seemed to be forthcoming though, which was definitely odd. Cam rushed back to Sam. She was working furiously, he could see several search patterns running on a display while her fingers flew over the controls. She glanced his way momentarily at his questioning look, but merely pointed at the display in English, it had new output. Cam blinked in alarm as Daniel approached them and read the same thing.

'Ring transporter lockout... complete.

Be advised this will not hold Vala/Qetesh for long.  
Do not stick around. Take the first one that looks good.

Oh, and this is important, take a running leap through the Stargate.

Good luck.'

"What the Hell? What is going on?" asked Cam as he let the Kalashnikov hang from his hand at his side.

"I think this is how they did it, Cam, how they sent back the ZPMs to us. They found this place in their reality..." Sam's voice was hitching in amazement as surges of emotion welled up in her. Remembering how the ZPMs had helped avert the defeat of Earth, how they'd been able to take one to Atlantis and prevent the Wraith getting access to the Milky Way, all thanks to that metal case. "I think we're going to set up these defensive countermeasures ourselves sometime in the future... in the past..." Both men stared at her in confusion as she continued to work. Ugly sounds were coming from the ring platform, the sounds of machinery trying to break itself to pieces.

"Sam." Daniel called with a look over his shoulder as he and Cam walked back to the central platform. Sam turned to them urgently.

"I've found one, but you're not going to like it." she called and Cam could already see her working away to program something into the console. Cam came to stand by her side.

"Why not?" he asked in confusion and she turned to give him a significant look.

"It'll send us back to 1929." she muttered with a tilt of her head.

"That's ten years too soon!" he cried with a glare and she rolled her eyes at him. He pursed his lips knowing she was calling him Colonel Obvious in her head. He raised a finger at her in warning and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, it'll have to do, 'cause it sounds like those countermeasures are not going to be able to hold them much longer." Daniel cried from the tower and Cam could hear the high keening whines from the ring platform as the recess in the housing overhanging the platform fought alternately between staying closed and trying to open. Cam rushed to the central platform.

"Once I dial the Stargate, we'll have less than twenty seconds to get through." Sam called to them all as she slapped her hands down on the controls, activating the program she'd just completed.

"Dial it up and get your ass down here!" Cameron called to her. Teal'c came around the central tower and walked over to them.

"We will hold them off." he declared to Sam's dismay as she took the pistol from her belt and rushed to Cam's side. "You will do as you have promised. Reverse what has been done, free my people." Cam looked at him for a long moment, then nodded once. Sam shook her head with a look at the Jaffa.

"I'm staying too." Daniel breathed as he walked up behind Teal'c and Sam looked horrified.

"No! Daniel you can't, if we succeed we have no idea what's going to happen to this timeline." she cried walking towards him, a look from Daniel stopped her in her tracks as she shook her head slowly from side to side.

"I can't leave her here, not like this. I have to see her... talk to her." he breathed with a desperate look in his eyes. Teal'c turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. Cam watched his best friend, then turned his machine gun around and tossed it to him. Teal'c caught it in front of the archaeologist's face as he hadn't been prepared to catch it himself. Cam reached for Sam's Beretta and similarly tossed that towards Daniel, he managed to catch that. Sam whirled on him angrily before turning back to Daniel.

"Daniel! You can't do this!" She took a step forward, but was stopped by Cam's hand around her waist from behind. "Cameron! Let me go! We can't leave him or Teal'c!" She struggled against his grip, but he felt her wavering when he pressed his cheek against the side of her head.

"He has to do this, baby. I'd do the same for you." he breathed into her ear and she shook her head. "Good luck, Daniel." he intoned, saying good-bye to his best friend.

"No! No, no, no, no!" she murmured, distraught. Daniel caught his eye and nodded in gratitude as the Stargate activated behind him, chevrons lighting up as the inner track turned.

"Thank you, Mitchell. Now get her out of here!" He pointed towards the 'gate with the Kalashnikov Teal'c had handed him after he'd stuffed the three pistols in his pockets. "And make sure to get me my notes! You promised!" Cam nodded and turned Sam around as she struggled in his grip. "Good-bye, Sam, Cameron."

"Come on, baby, you remember the message. We have to run for it. Right now." He grabbed her hand, but she turned to face Daniel for a moment.

"If you can, try to come through on another wormhole!" She pointed at the console and Daniel nodded with a wry smile before turning away. "I won't say good-bye!" she yelled as Cam began tugging at her hand and she finally turned to run alongside him towards the wormhole as it opened. They heard the rings finally dropping down to disgorge more of Qetesh's Jaffa. Cam watched as Sam disappeared into the event horizon as the tears streamed down her cheeks and followed after her with a leap.

* * *

Muranis, September 2010

Sam grabbed on to the solidity of Cameron's chest as he knelt next to her, a bulwark against the flashes of ephemeral conjecture streaming through her mind. She was only distantly aware she'd just been called Angharad by Merlin of all people, the name was familiar, where had she heard it before? She gritted her teeth as the images assaulting her mind peaked in intensity then stopped. She gasped and went limp in Cam's embrace.

"Sam, baby, are you okay?" he asked softly as he pushed her hair from over her eyes with his gloved fingers. She looked up for a moment so she could gaze into his blue eyes. She lifted her hand to brush her fingertips against his cheek. She shook her head while her eyes began to sting.

"No, I'm not okay." she breathed then smiled gently when his features creased with worry. "I will be, Cam. I just... need to sort things out." She leaned up while pulling his lips to hers with a hand on his jaw. She kissed him tenderly, hoping to push away the visions to the back of her mind. Decisions far too difficult to contemplate now. She pulled back with a sigh and leaned against him for a moment.

"Samantha, what just happened?" asked a worried Vala beside her. Sam looked up at her friend and smiled softly.

"Muranis is nothing like Selenis." she replied, which only confused the former smuggler more. Daniel came to crouch down by them as well while Teal'c hovered over them with eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the smiling hologram of Merlin.

"What does that mean, Sam? Granted, the design is... amazingly different, but underneath isn't it just a generation ship like Selenis?" asked the archaeologist while Sam shifted in Cam's arms to lean back against his chest while she recovered some of her strength. She shook her head.

"No, Daniel, Selenis is power and purpose, she is the foundation, Muranis is perception and logic, he is the vision." She stopped with a little frown.

"And Kariala, Samantha Carter?" Teal'c asked in understanding. Sam looked up at him with a rueful tilt of her head.

"Kariala is action and strength, she is the spear." she replied. "The winged spear." she breathed and looked up at Cam for a moment before continuing. "Remember when we first arrived in Selenis and found she had a gravitic displacement engine?" He nodded.

"I promised you I'd stay away from anything marked 'propulsion'." he replied with a smile. She nodded with a smile of her own before her features turned pensive.

"Remember when we thought that since that was her only means of propulsion that the trip to Pegasus would take millions of years?" she asked with a more distant tone. He frowned in confusion. "Selenis is the power, Muranis is the perception, Kariala is the action." she intoned. "They were designed to move as one, Cameron." She looked up at him. "Kariala takes Selenis' energy and Muranis' senses and rips hyperspace open, driving all of them through together." He stared at her in disbelief. "It would still take a long time, but only millennia instead of megayears." She paused and looked down. "At least that's how it was supposed to be." she murmured with a distant sigh and closed her eyes.

"Muranis showed you this?" asked Daniel and she tilted her head to the side without looking up.

"Sort of, he isn't quite right." She felt Cam's arms tightening around her and she smiled gently, she finally opened her eyes to look up at him. "I'm fine, Cam. Really."

"Muranis will not have harmed her. He was cleared of the worm millions of years ago." Merlin added from where he stood. They all turned to look at him. "What she means is that he is dying." He looked up at the crystal glowing faintly in the darkness while their flashlights were pointed down or away.

"How can that be? Did the worm do something?" asked Vala. Merlin shook his head.

"No, Valan. As Angharad said, Muranis is nothing like Selenis." he indicated the crystal towering above them. "This is merely the physical manifestation of what you call Muranis." Silence descended on them as Sam nodded slowly and raised her hand to cup Cam's cheek, asking him silently to help her stand.

"Muranis exists in all dimensions of this reality. As a tesseract is a cube through time, Muranis is this crystal, tesselating all the way to the eleventh dimension." She chuckled bitterly. "I should have paid more attention to those M-theory papers I was reading." She still leant heavily in Cam's arms, but her legs were taking her weight now. A deafening crack rent the dumbfounded silence which followed her words. Everyone looked up at the crystal as a bright jagged plane which had formed inside it from nowhere faded away to nothing, leaving only the broken shadow of itself as refracted through the crystal facet. "And he's dying," Sam said in a pained whisper, "shattering under the strain of his own existence." She looked at Merlin in distress and he shook his head.

"If I had known when I was last here, installing myself in this console, I may have been able to do something." he said gently. "As it is, I've only been able to hold vigil as his internal entropy destroys him." His features twisted in pain. "If I had simply thought to give him enough power to repair himself. A millennium too far." he murmured sadly. Daniel scratched at his temple.

"As fascinating as it is hearing you two talk about things far too complex for this social sciences major to grasp, we're not here for that." he muttered and Vala laughed nervously.

"Daniel, sometimes Samantha loses me when she describes the weather." she jibed while laying her head on Sam's shoulder. Sam smiled indulgently and ruffled her friend's hair. Daniel looked at her with tightly drawn lips. She just grinned at him.

"Ah, but it _is_ why you are here, Galahad." Merlin responded at last. Daniel frowned.

"You know, you call him Galahad, but that's a lot closer to the name of our ship, Galadia." Vala pointed out and Merlin smiled with a lift of his eyebrows.

"Galahad comes from the old Welsh Gwalchavad. Galadia's name is derived from the Alteran for sword, galadus." Daniel said in irritation. Vala raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed and tilted his head in apology, coming to stand next to her. She slipped her hand around his forearm.

"Why are _you_ here, Merlin?" Cameron asked and they all turned to the hologram. The ersatz Lantean looked troubled at the question, shifting uncomfortably.

"That is not an easy question to answer, Percival." he replied. Cam frowned while Teal'c's eyes narrowed dangerously. "No need to look at me like that, Bors." he groused with a huff. "In a manner of speaking, I'm here as a night watchman. To hold vigil until the morning."

"You were waiting for us." Cameron stated resolutely. Merlin smiled slightly with an appraising look.

"Yes, Percival." He nodded. Sam frowned while glancing over her shoulder at Cameron. What had he seen? For his part, Daniel was looking down at the platform and pinching his lower lip between a thumb and forefinger, his brow furrowed in thought.

"We're here to find Muranis' part of the Clava Thessara Infinitas." Vala offered brightly into the tense silence. Teal'c walked around behind Merlin, still keeping a baleful gaze on him. "We came after finding out you'd been here. We've been reading through your books on Camelot, I hope you don't mind." She paused in thought. "Although I suppose we should have said that when we met the real you nearly four years ago." She cringed apologetically. "You were sort of not all there." She waved her fingers theatrically at the sides of her head and Merlin nodded and smiled.

"You are just as I remember you, Valan." he burbled happily. Vala tilted her head with a frown and Daniel looked up with narrowed eyes. Sam felt Cameron tensing behind her. Something was definitely up.

"Yes, well, anyway, um, you wouldn't happen to know where it is?" asked Vala hopefully. Merlin shook his head.

"I can tell you it isn't here. I took it from this place some seven centuries before I last visited." replied the hologram. Sam cursed.

"Do you know its current location, Merlin?" asked Teal'c. The hologram turned to him and shook his head. Teal'c narrowed his eyes. "You took it from this place yet are not aware of its present location?"

"I'm just a hologram, I wasn't programmed with that information." replied the Lantean. Sam smirked bitterly. Even she could tell _that_ was a lie. Teal'c wasn't going to be fooled by it. The hologram didn't know because, wherever the Key was now, it wasn't where Merlin had taken it to originally and he knew it.

"Kariala then," Daniel interjected with a glint in his eye, "can you tell us which symbol is Kariala's ninth chevron? We have a choice of two and would rather not dial up the home of the Indesta by mistake." Merlin turned to him and nodded.

"I can, but it won't help you." said the hologram. "Kariala is lost. Unreachable." He turned to the crystal behind them all. "Only Muranis knows where she could be."

* * *

To be continued in 'The Patience of Kings'


End file.
